Javier Gancedo shares his recommendations for Round 13 in the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge
Fantasy tips, Round 13: Another chance to improve
Fantasy Challenge
3 Mins read
All of a sudden, we are heading into Round 13 of the EuroLeague Regular Season. At the end of it, more than one-third of the round-robin stage will be in the books. Of course, another round is another opportunity for all EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge managers to improve in the overall standings and in hundreds of private leagues featuring friends, family teammates and maybe even people you may not like that much and you want to beat badly.
Before I share my recommendations for Round 13, let's see how my tips worked out last week. Well, TJ Leaf of Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv was injured and did not play. That is not my fault, so I won't count him. Nick Weiler-Babb of Anadolu Efes Istanbul had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and a fantasy core of 20.9. He earned 0.3 credits. Kenneth Faried of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens had another rock-solid performance (9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks), for 25.3 fantasy points and gained 0.6 credits.
Aleksa Avramovic of Dubai Basketball was hurt in the first half of his team's game against Panathinaikos and ended up getting a negative score of -1. Bad call. Ognjen Dobric of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade saw less playing time and lost -0.1 credits. So that's two wins, two losses and one DNP. Take into account that I have not been recommending superstars lately, so I would say it was a 50-50 week.
Here are five players I like this week, leaving room for you to keep your most expensive players:
Theo Maledon, Real Madrid (14.1 credits)
All of a sudden, Theo Maledon looks exactly like the player he was in ASVEL last season: fast, aggressive, getting to the foul line a lot and being extremely productive. He had 25 points and a PIR of 34 in less than 22 minutes against Zalgiris. Playing against high-scoring Hapoel should help, too.
Azuolas Tubelis, Zalgiris Kaunas (10.0 credits)
When it comes to basketball, versatile left-handed forwards are my weak spot. Azuolas Tubelis is exactly that, a very mobile forward who is able to do a little bit of everything. In the last two games, Tubelis averaged 20.5 points on 14-of-15 two-point shooting and 5.0 rebounds for a PIR of 23.5. Just sensational!
Ercan Osmani, Anadolu Efes Istanbul (9.4 credits)
Owned by almost 20.0% of fantasy teams, Ercan Osmani is proving everybody right this season, going from 6.3 to 9.4 credits so far this season. Efes has frontcourt injuries and he is seeing more playing time, averaging 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and a PIR of 18.0 in the last three games. A must-have player!
Kobi Simmons, Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (9.6 credits)
It is no coincidence that Baskonia has improved a lot since Kobi Simmons joined the team. He has been extremely effective, giving his team the extra scoring punch it needed. In seven games, Simmons has averaged 10.3 points on great shooting (67.9% 2FG, 40.0% 3FG, 90.9% FT), 4.0 assists and a PIR of 11.7.
Armoni Brooks, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (8.3 credits)
A scoreless night against Efes was a turning point for Armoni Brooks, who has done great since then. Over the last three games, Brooks has averaged 16.7 points on 10-of-21 three-point shooting (47.6% 3FG) and 3.7 rebounds for a PIR of 15.3. If he starts getting to the foul line more often, his value should skyrocket.