Overview

     During the quarterfinals, our team didn’t shine, accumulating 137.25 points, but it still managed to climb approximately 40 positions in the global rankings. For the semifinals, both games will take place on the same day, so we need to prepare the best possible team without considering parameters like substitution flexibility between quarters, etc. While this simplifies things, it’s still challenging to select six players who can be top performers and avoid potential pitfalls at this stage.

So here we go:

Good Luck to all and always remember: trust yourselves instead of some random internet website right? Have fun

Signed: Mid-range Maven

Coach Pick:

We started building our team from the coach position. Both games are expected to be exciting, and we consider the matchup between Valencia and Hapoel Tel Aviv as the most competitive. According to statistics, Bahcesehir has the best defense, but who can challenge Gran Canaria with their experience in these kinds of games? For that reason, we decided to trust Valencia’s coach, Pedro Martinez (12.3 CR), as Valencia has not lost a home game this season and has won most of them by significant margins.

Player Picks:

We focused on selecting players who will be the key figures for their teams—those who will play the most minutes and have a significant role in their team’s offense. Our preference is for experienced players who have played in similar high-stakes games in Europe, as they tend to be more efficient at this stage. Additionally, after reviewing the statistics, we decided to avoid the guards from Gran Canaria, as Bahcesehir was highly effective at defending that position in the two regular-season matchups between the teams.

That being said, our first pick is Chris Jones (13.9 CR), who has undoubtedly been Valencia’s main offensive weapon for the past three years. He will also be the captain of our team. We also selected Mike Tobey (11.6 CR) and Matthew Costello (12 CR) as our centers, both of whom will be part of the main squad. Tobey performed exceptionally well during both games against Bahcesehir, and we’d like to make up for the disappointing performance of Odiase, who was our pick in the previous round. We decided not to select Modley because he often struggles with personal fouls, and we believe Valencia will target this weakness. On the other hand, Costello is an experienced center. Although he shares the position with Pradilla, we trust our instincts and have chosen him, hoping for a productive performance. 

Tyler Cavanaugh (13.1 CR) will be our main forward, as he regularly plays over 30 minutes and has shown impressive consistency, averaging close to 15 points per game. Coach Itoudis seems to be placing more trust in Marcus Foster (12.2 CR), so we will include him in our main squad. For the sixth position, we debated between Yam Madar (13.7 CR) and Joe Thomasson (9.0 CR), who had a solid game in the quarterfinals, scoring 15 points and reaching a 16.5 fantasy score. In the end, we chose Madar, as he seems to have a higher ceiling.

The last three bench players will be Josep Puerto (7.1 CR), Nate Sestina (8.6 CR), and Ish Wainright (9.7 CR). We selected them because they are expected to play around 20 minutes each and could achieve a performance around 10 fantasy points. If Caboclo’s absence is confirmed before the game, we will switch Costello with Modley and replace Sestina with a much cheaper player. The reason is that Modley will likely have to play more than 30 minutes, being the only center available for his team, and we cannot overlook this opportunity.