So, I was doing my trades, trying to think of something to write about this week. As you know I always avoid giving tips on which players to buy, cause I'm no prophet, so I always focus on statistical figures.
My main intention this week was to get rid of Darjus Lavrinovic and replace him with Tiago Splitter. Reasons for that? Plenty: Splitter sees 30+ minutes, being the go-to guy of his team and having only Stanko Barac to compete with for minutes. Darjus on the other hand plays in a very overloaded frontline with Thomas Van den Spiegel and Felipe Reyes returning to action and with Novica Velickovic and Jorge Garbajosa being in great form and earning the trust of coach Messina. Splitter also costs 5 credits less than Darjus which I could use to fill some holes in other problematic positions.
Which brings me to my second trade. I now have 88 credits to get 1 SG-SF and 1 PF-C. I already have Kleiza, Walsh, Mickeal, Maric, Pekovic and of course Splitter. For lack of another option since there seem to be no reliable forwards in the low ranks, I decided to get a forward of some 60 credits and a center with the rest, while I had already decided to base my decision on playing time. Whom I got as a forward doesn't really matter as I rotated many options in my various teams.
So here I am, browsing centers for under 30 credits. I can honestly tell you, it is a nightmare as many of those guys manage to suck (fantasy-wise) even if they see many minutes.
I did manage however to narrow down (own) my choices and use some of them in my teams.
Sasha Kaun had a rocky start and was even injured for a game if I'm no mistaken. In tha last two games however he's been very solid and sees many minutes while his teammates seem to feed him quite often. He's at 24.6 credtis.
Lawrence Roberts is a starter for Partizan and sees over 31' in average. He takes many shots, but his 37.5% in 2p and 12.5% in 3p, cause him to cost only 27.1 credits. He's a solid rebounder however (7.4) and if at some game his shots fall in he may pull off good figures.
Stanko Barac sees a few minutes and has recorded decent performances for his price. This week however Caja Laboral takes on Maccabi in Israel. Defo a tough game for the Basques.
Another player that sees many minutes and seems to be underperforming is Vedran Vukusic of Cibona. 25mpg and only 5.3 IRP? Maybe things will go better. He is at 18.2 credits.
Other players that also seem to be pretty cheap given their playing time or previous experience are Daniel Santiago, Uros Slokar, Semih Erden and Edin Bavcic and of course David Bluthenthal who seems to be finding his role in the team with an average of 26' in the last two games or even Eric Campbell and Donatas Zavackas who are key parts of their clubs.
As you can see there are plenty of options in the little-value range. Examine their opponents and I am positive you could find some player to pull off a good game in comparison to their value.
And a couple of notes:
Linas Kleiza has recovered from swine flu and will resume training tomorrow. As of latest reports from Greece, he will play on Thursday.
Nikola Pekovic got a slight injury, but according to the reports he will be available.
Ricky Rubio is also in question for Barcelona while Saul Blanco of Unicaja is expected to be sidelined for 2-3 weeks.
