From my point of view, I just hope you enjoyed the game as much as I enjoyed organizing it. Technically speaking, this has been the best fantasy season ever, as we changed servers, which made the game much more efficient. Not having to wait until 4 a.m. to re-open the game and announce the winner had a good impact in my everyday life, especially when it comes to doing something interesting on Friday mornings. Some people have complained about the injury report sometimes, but hey, we publish what we see and what we are informed of. I got a very interesting mail from Nejc Tiran of Slovenia offering some improvements which I will study once the Turkish Airlines Euroleague season is over. Before anything else, any suggestions or possible improvements that we can make, you can always send them to fantasychallenge@euroleague.net. We are good at listening and also want the game to be better — and better! — every season.

So, the end is near and amazingly enough, we don't know who will be our 2010-11 fantasy winner. It goes down to three main candidates and only one of them will come to Barcelona to be the Euroleague's very, very special guest. I said it before, but being on court while the Euroleague champions are celebrating is an incredible experience. Even when I am working hard, chasing players to get quotes right away for all the media out there, being there is amazing. Having the chance to being right there and witness basketball greatness at its best is unique. Ramon Pons of Spain leads the standings and is the top candidate — after all, he is first right now. Feliz Rodshtein of Israel briefly got the lead last week — and it is a shame that we don't give prizes to the coolest team names because "Beverly Hills Chihuahuas" would be pretty close to it. Edgaras Marcinkus of Lithuania was our regular season winner and wants more, of course. To all of them, and to everyone else, best of luck this week. I can't wait to find out!

Personally speaking, it has been my worst fantasy season ever. Call it a blog jinx, a bad start, whatever it is, but I have failed to be competitive — even when according to the rules, I can't win at all. I have just two teams in the best 1,000, with the best one ranking a sad 593rd overall. I did a bit better in the Top 16 standings, as my best team is 121st, so be sure I will be back hungry and ready next year! My public team "Meet the Boss" is 2,478th, doing better than our fantasy guest Ermal Kuqo and most people I know, but let's face it... it's been a sub-par fantasy season for me. Still, there is one week left and I gotta do my best to finish with a bang. Three teams — Olympiacos, Real Madrid and Regal FCB – finished in first place already in their Top 16 groups, two others — Montepaschi and Maccabi — are second no matter what, and some others are eliminated. The priority will be having players from teams that have big goals in Top 16 Week 6.

So, I will be a bit revolutionary and risky, but like I said, my fantasy season is doomed already. I am trading Chuck Eidson, Juan Carlos Navarro and Ksistof Lavrinovic because different rotations may take place this week. Their teams could easily choose to rest them some. So, that gives me 198.22 credits for three new players. I am signing Stanko Barac of Caja Laboral because he is playing really well lately. Besides, Mirza Teletovic is nursing a knee problem. I am going to go for Romain Sato because Panathinaikos plays Unicaja and Carlos Jimenez, his potential matchup, is sidelined. I am also buying Martynas Gecevicius because Lietuvos Rytas needs to win to get to the Quarterfinal Playoffs. Ah, the irony. All game long fighting to earn credits and I have like 43 in the box, unused for Top 16 Game 6.

So here's my final lineup. It's been fun, after all.

POINT GUARDS:

Dimitris Diamantidis — Panathinaikos must win in Malaga to survive. Big mismatch in this game, too.
Nikos Zisis — OK, Montepaschi is second no matter what but Zisis is its only full-time point guard.


SHOOTING GUARDS AND SMALL FORWARDS:

Romain Sato — Made for big games like this. Sato has an athletic advantage against Saul Blanco and Berni Rodriguez.
Vassilis Spanoulis — Olympiacos is group champion but plays at home, in front of its fans....
Fernando San Emeterio — Comes off a bad game in the Spanish League. This will be very different.
Martynas Gecevicius — Plays at home and faces one of the biggest challenges in club history.


POWER FORWARDS AND CENTRS:

Rasho Nesterovic — Again, Olympiacos is first, but Ioannis Bourousis is out and Rasho Nesterovic is needed in the middle.
Mike Batiste — My third Panathinaikos player this week. Generally not a good idea, but this is an exception.
Dusko Savanovic — Power Electronics needs to win to stay alive. Dusko lives and dies for these games.
Stanko Barac — Playing much better lately — and possibly will see extended playing time, too.


As for this blog, I will have to talk to my bosses and see what they want from me next. In case you don't see me around in the upcoming month, you can always find me in the Fantasy Challenge e-mail. But I have the feeling you will here from me — and possibly talking about radically different stuff — soon enough. Don't miss the trading deadline and hope you finish the fantasy season the best way possible!
POSTED BY
JAVIER GANCEDO — EUROLEAGUE.NET