By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Armani Milan is in danger of staying out of the Top 16 and their undisputed leader, Alessandro Gentile, is back from his injury and is getting ready to… save his team.
He’s only 23 years old, but he leads Milan, having the best season of his career. Alessandro Gentile didn’t play in the last two rounds because of an injury, but now he’s fit again, in order to “save” the Italian team’s European year.
His numbers in the first six games of the season were impressive, as he’s ranked third with 19,3 evaluation points and the top scorer with 20 points on average. Furthermore, he’s first in attempted shots per game, but also shots on target! What more do you need to select him for you fantasy team?
So, this week’s direction is how to build a team around him, especially ahead of the ‘life or death’ game against Cedevita. With 8,5 credits laid up from last week, the first move will be the removal of the quite mediocre in the last rounds Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who has made two very bad games in the last three.
Milos Teodosic also seems to be in bad shape, as he hasn’t been good in the Euroleague, or the VTB. The Serbian guard is actually still expensive (71,1), so he’s going to bring a lot of credits to the team. The third player who is going to depart from the team in this round will be Othello Hunter. Olympiacos’s American center is not going to be under any particular pressure in the game against Limoges, his team acquired another center (Shawn James) and so his role and playing time are going to be reduced gradually.
With 184,7 credits and Alessandro Gentile as our first target, two options are left: we are either going to acquire two mid-range players or an expensive one and a gamble. In the last group rounds there are often surprises in terms of the role and playing time of starting players, so we would rather bet on a “powerful outsider.” D. J. Strawberry is getting better and better in the last few games, he’s very good offensively in Olympiacos’s recent games and valued at 28,1 credits, he’s an excellent “cheap” option.
This move afforded us with several options for the center position. Zirbes, Bilan and Hendrix are excellent additions, but Eurohoops.net team is going to go with Cedevita’s Miro Bilan. The Croatian is very consistent and in the qualification game against Milan, it’s a given that he’s going to take on many attempts and get a lot of playing time. Besides, the Italian team is not really known for their effectiveness in defense close to the basket.
UPDATE: Alessandro Gentile got injured and will not play with Armani Milan against Cedevita. So, he will be replaced in the team will by Malcolm Delaney.
Enjoy fantasy!
Eurohoopsnet Team
Point Guards
Sergio Llull 54,3 credits (+0,5)
DJ Strawberry 28,1 credits
Shooting Guards/Small Forwards
Nando De Colo 98,7 credits (+6,6)
Malcolm Delaney 78,3 credits
Mateusz Ponitka 64,3 credits (+2,8)
Alexey Shved 61,7 credits (+8)
Power Forwards/Centers
Miro Bilan 75,9 credits
Ante Tomic 75,1 credits (+0,7)
Victor Claver 67,6 credits (+0,1)
Quincy Miller 42,2 credits (+5,5)