Round 12 is almost here, giving you, the best fantasy managers in European basketball, another chance to win prizes in the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge powered by Ardu Prime. There are some big games in Round 12, but arguably none as interesting as the Belgrade derby: Partizan Mozzart Bet and Crvena Zvezda mts go against each other in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for the first time. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul defends the top spot against ALBA Berlin in the German capital, and Real Madrid hosts AS Monaco in what could be a high-scoring showdown. Beware: the last time those teams met, it was 66-66 at the end of regulation. The competition remains unpredictable, and so does the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge.
Things went horribly wrong for my team Gancedato in Round 11. My head coach, Kazys Maksvytis of Zalgiris Kaunas, lost his game. My two centers, Jan Vesely of FC Barcelona and Filip Petrusev of Zvezda, combined for a PIR of 7. I switched captains to get Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce, who had a PIR of 3. I ended up getting a season-low 79.85 points, ranking just 79,923rd in Round 11. Of course, I dropped many spots in the overall standings, ranking 4,870th. It was a hard week but hey, there are 30 more chances to do better than that, so let's go for it.
Three trades are allowed before each round and you can trade your head coach, too. I have already decided that I am going to sign Nikola Mirotic of FC Barcelona. He is the ultimate Fantasy Challenge player but buying him means that I need to let Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus go. I cannot afford both right now. My next goal will be to have both of them, but if I want to be competitive, there is nothing else I can do. As for head coach, I am selling Maksvytis and buying Joan Penarroya because his team, Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, is 4-1 at home this season and winning by big margins at Buesa Arena.
I am also selling my two centers, but not because they didn't do well in Round 11. Bad games can happen. With Mirotic back, Mike Tobey returns to the '5' position and that means less playing time for Vesely. As for Petrusev, I expect Zvezda's most experienced guys to see more playing time in the Serbian derby. I am buying Johnathan Motley of Fenerbahce and Jasiel Rivero of Valencia Basket. I wish I could buy Brandon Davies of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan instead of Rivero but again, I don't have enough credits.
You can take a look at my team here: