It is time for another Euroleague Fantasy Challenge tips article. But first of all, I would like to apologize for picking Randy Culpepper who eventually did not play in the last round. So I’m taking this opportunity to remind you once again to check out the official Turkish Airlines Euroleague injury report as well as my Twitter account for last minute injury updates. Another thing you should be aware this week is the deadline which is been set on Wednesday 20:45 CET. This week we are getting back to some proven methods when it comes to choosing players for your fantasy team.
Fantasy Euroleage player choosing method number one: Standard home producers
PG’s
Sergio Rodriguez: There are once again some very underrated players from Real Madrid, mainly because Real has been struggling away from home so the player prices went way down. It is no secret that Real plays much better at home than away. They play very fast and “fantasy friendly”. What I mean by that is they play very fast and put up large numbers. I decided to go with my Real Madrid duo from two weeks ago when Real played Bayern at home. The first player is “El Chacho” who’s price is way below his capacities at the moment. He has a realistic chance to have a PIR close to 20 this round even though he is not in an MVP form currently. Real is playing Khimki and the Russian side’s defense is pretty penetrable, so there should be enough space for the “Bearded one” to dish out a lot of assists as well as to score a lot of points. 36.6 credits for a player of his calibre in front of the game against Khimki in Madrid could be a steal of the round! Therefore Sergio is first of my week 6 fantasy Euroleague tips that will bring you points.
DJ Strawberry: Strawberry is my one exception among “home producers” Last week I taught about suggesting Dontaye Draper as a Former Real Madrid man visiting Barcelona. It turned out to be a great option as he went crazy and had a great game and he was very cheap. This week I’m going to be following the same logic by suggesting you a former Cibona player. Yes, Strawberry played for Cibona before joining Karsiyaka from where he went to Piraeus. Cibona and Cedevita have built up a fierce rivalry over the last few years and the American PG was also a part of that. Strawberry is very cheap for only 22.7 and even if wasn’t for he fact that he is coming back to Zagreb, the fact that Spanoulis is to be considered doubtful for the game makes him a great pick. Strawberry plays with a lot of “fire” and I expect him to be extra fired up for this game. I like players with something to prove, just look at Vougioukas last week.
SG/SF
Jaycee Carroll: I’m going back to Jaycee Carroll as well. Real went on a trip last week and he was quite expectedly not on the same level like he was at home, much like the whole Real Madrid team. Now they have another home game against a team that does not play hard defense and Jaycee is even cheaper than before. 33.8 credits will get you a sharp shooter that does not often miss the target when Madrid is playing at their house. There are some other good options from Real for this week like Reyes or Rudy, but those two will cost you twice as much.
Fabien Causer: Laboral is playing at home against struggling Milano. Fabien Causer has been pretty consistent in almost any game and I expect him to have another good one. He won’t be up against good defenders in this game and if Laboral should get into their rhythm I see him throwing in a fast paced game. This could be an intense game and Causer always plays well in those kind of games.
Olivier Hanlan: Zalgiris is playing at home and you can get one of their best scorers for only 28.2 credits. Zalgiris is always efficient when playing at home, especially against weaker opponents. Hanlan could be raising his price by a lot after this game.
Jon Diebler: For my last week 6 fantasy Euroleague tip when it comes to SG/SF category, I recommend Diebler. Efes is playing at home against Limoges and I think it should be a high-paced game. If you can remember the game in France between these two teams in the first round, you’ll probably agree with me. That was the crazy shooting game, especially for Diebler who shot 6 from 10 from downtown. Even if the averages don’t go that crazy in this one it still should be a fast game. Efes likes to score big when playing at home this season and I don’t think much should change this week. Diebler had two below average games and now you can get him for a reasonable price. 56 credits for such a great shooter when playing at home is never too much. If you add the fact that he has been averaging more than 33 minutes per game and never played less than 30 minutes this year in a Euroleague game, you just can’t look past him. Coach Ivkovic trusts him a lot, why shouldn’t we?!
Method number two: Big guys against weak interior defense
PF/C
Kyle Hines: Big men were a pretty good option when they were playing Maccabi so far this season. Maccabi has signed a new coach Zan Tabak, who I appreciate very much, but I don’t think he had enough time to change a lot since he has just arrived. Coach Itoudis could be ordering his players to get the ball down low to Hines a lot and I think he could be CSKA’s key player in this game. Hines is a hard worker who is more the capable of making his own scoring opportunities, but if he should get some dishes from CSKA’s great guards like Teodosic and De Colo he could be going for big numbers.
Furkan Aldemir: I almost swore not to take players from Darussafaka, because of coach Mahmuti’s rotation and the lack of hierarchy in this team, but I decided to take my chances with Aldemir this week. There are a few reasons that are making me pick him. First of all, a center, especially a heavy one like Aldemir, is always a good bet when he is going up against Dinamo Sassari. The Italian team protects the paint pretty badly, so opposing centers have their best games against Dinamo on a regular basis. Of course, I immediately taught about Semih Erden for this week, but I decided to try with Aldemir, just because Erden has been known to be a pretty “moody” guy. I taught about putting him in my selection last week against Maccabi but eventually skipped him. That turned out to be a mistake as he had a great game, I hope I don’t go wrong by skipping him again. Aldemir was brought to be a major reinforcement from the NBA, it’s time for him to start earning his pay check. With enough minutes on the floor Aldemir could go big. If you are looking for a surprise of the round, you should consider spending 34 credits for Furkan.
Quincy Miller: Miller is the exception from method number two. You may call this man “the one who does not pass the ball”. Miller is a “shoot first and ask questions later” kind of a guy, but the fact is that he has started to get a lot of minutes and, what is more, important, to get some great numbers. He had a 22 PIR game against Bayern last week and a 15 PIR game in the ABA league on Sunday. I must warn you that this guy could lead you from joy to desperation very fast. That means that he can get to “monster” numbers on a god shooting day but can also have a minus PIR if he should try to force his shots on an off day. Strasbourg proved to be a real puzzle at their arena for teams like Real and Fenerbahce, so Zvezda’s players could be risky picks for this round, but Miller could be playing a “private game” anyway. Worth a try for only 27.7 credits.
Ante Tomic: Another big man that is going against a team that struggles to protect the paint. Tomic has been raising his shape game by game and he now looks like the player who has been the main offensive threat of the Catalan team. Barca is at home and if Tomic should get going from the start he could go over 20 PIR easy. He is the mismatch for all of Karsiyaka’s big man and he should exploit that fact. High price at 72.5, but it should be worth it for your Euroleague Fantasy Challenge team.
Conclusion
There you go guys, the above are my Euroleague Fantasy Challenge tips for week 6. Hope you find the article useful, if you did please consider sharing and if you didn’t let us know what you think in the comments below. Wish you all the luck in the Euroleague Fantasy Challenge this week!