Woods: The boss' main man
Hello and Happy New Year everybody! This is once again Javier Gancedo of Euroleague basketball, hoping that 2010 brings you happiness, fun and a lot of great hoops in Europe’s marquee club competition. I’ve been on holiday for the best part of the Euroleague break and right now I’m very busy. You good people out there can imagine that one of the busiest times of the season for us is the end of the Euroleague and Eurocup regular seasons with signings, possibilities and so on.
Plus these days, we also have the Ciutat de L’Hospitalet junior tournament, co-organized by Euroleague Basketball. I can proudly say that Cajasol made it to the final, which will be played this afternoon. You can congratulate me if you read this after 8pm on Wednesday – if we won, of course. We have a star point guard in Ricardo Pampano: Remember you heard the name first in this Fantasy Challenge column. [At BallinEurope.com, of course –Ed.]
Quite a bizarre place to read it, isn’t it?
Anyway, my team Meet The Boss didn’t do well before the holiday break. I scored 152.8 points, rank 1329th overall and seventh in the BallinEurope Invitational Challenge private league. Since I am in a bit of a rush, I will keep this short. Also, this week’s trades are very easy to do: First, Ramunas Siskauskas is injured, so he’s gone already; second, Oguz Savas was a gamble that went wrong, so he’s off the team, too; third, Chuck Eidson has had physical problems throughout the week, so that completed my trades this week.
Easy, huh? Well, that is never, ever a good sign…
I’m keeping my signature player Qyntel Woods – for good or bad, he’s always there. Everyone has a player that, one way or another, ends up in your team for longer than expected and Woods is that guy for me. I like his style, his poise, the incredible talent he has. But man, he plays against Panathinaikos this week. Where’s that fourth trade when you need it?
So time to buy some new players. 205 credits are available from the 715 (!) I have. First of all, I need a signature big man: This has to be Tiago Splitter or Travis Watson, as I won’t take anyone else. Tiago had a bad game against Maroussi last time around, so this space will be filled by Watson.
On to shooting guards and small forwards, Efes Pilsen *must* win against high-scoring Olympiacos, so I’ll pick up Igor Rakocevic. As for the last trade, with Siskauskas sidelined, Trajan Langdon gets in hands down.
Meet The Boss looks like this right at the start of 2010:
Bo McCalebb. Partizan has to beat Lietuvos Rytas to keep its Top 16 hopes alive. McCalebb should have a good game.
Terrell McIntyre is set to stay in my team for a long time, but faces a dangerous game against Lynn Greer.
Linas Kleiza will have a tough time against Bostjan Nachbar and Charles Smith, but he’s rock solid.
Trajan Langdon. Without Siskauskas around, Trajan Langdon should be his team’s top scorer.
Qyntel Woods. My man! Woods will have it tough against Panathinaikos in Athens; however, he always proves me wrong.
Igor Rakocevic. A two-time Ford Trophy winner at 61 credits? Bring him in!
Ioannis Bourousis. Ah, the lack of trades! Bourousis is seeing limited playing time lately.
Mike Batiste. Well, Pekovic is questionable. Which means Batiste is set for a very good game.
Travis Watson. Rebounders always do well in fantasy, and Watson is the top rebounder in the competition.
Aleks Maric. Here since Day 1. Maric won’t leave the team anytime soon unless he gets injured.
So that’s all for me! Enjoy a superb Euroleague week and choose wisely in the SportingBet Euroleague Basketball Fantasy Challenge! Good luck everyone!
