If you haven’t already signed up to the BBL Fantasy League head over to http://www.bbl.org.uk/?fantasy,1075 and create a team, each squad requires 3 Forwards, 3 Guards and 1 Centre and you have a limit of 2 players from each team and a total of 23 ‘Stars’, each player has a star rating ranging from 1 to 5 stars this week BBL Fans bring you our picks of who you should be selecting in your Fantasy Squad.
This weekend has a total of 7 BBL Championship games across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday night see’s title hopefuls Worcester Wolves & Leicester Riders go head-to-head while title leaders, Newcastle take on the Lions and Sheffield Sharks look to solidify their playoff position against the Cheshire Jets.
Saturday night see’s just one match with the Plymouth Raiders taking on the lowly Durham Wildcats.
Finally Sunday is also action packed as the Jets host the Heat in a battle for the 8th seed in the playoffs, while north of the border the Glasgow Rocks host the Eagles & down south the Raiders host the Riders.
Here are our weekends Fantasy Picks;
Forward – Ayron Hardy – When THE BEST PLAYER IN THE BBL has a game it’s not a great idea to take him off your fantasy basketball team, when he has two games in one weekend, it would be even more ridiculous. This month Ayron is the top fantasy player by quite a margin and has averaged 44 fantasy points per game over the last two.
Forward – Colin O’Reilly – The Cheshire Jets forwards have been consistently good almost all season and usually we see Bill Cole in this position, but after 31.75 fantasy points per game over the last 4 including a 39 point, 5 rebound outing verses the Raiders we couldn’t help but include Colin in this week’s selection.
Forward – Andrew Thomson – The last time Andrews Eagles took on the Lions he scored 24 fantasy points & when they last played the Rocks he chipped in another 26. His 28.6 fantasy points per game over the last 3 are solid enough to warrant an inclusion in this week’s fantasy choices; in addition to that he has missed just 14 free throws in BBL Championship games all season!
Centre – Paul Williams – 10 STRAIGHT DOUBLE-DOUBLES! WOW, 3rd highest overall fantasy scorer this month and he plays twice this weekend vs the Wildcats and Riders, after losing another Final (Trophy), if his team still has title hopes then they need two wins this weekend.
Guard – Jeremy Bell – Last year’s BBL M.V.P has stepped it up a gear recently going for 15 straight games with over 10 points per game and 11 straight with over 10 fantasy points per game with an average of 25.1 fantasy points per game over those 10, he is the 3rd overall guard this month and his team play’s twice this weekend.
Guard – Cameron Rundles – The 2nd overall guard this month gets the Fantasy Basketball nod over Jimmy Langhurst due to playing twice to Jimmy’s once, he had 3 games in a row over 30 fantasy points and finished with 14 last week.
Guard – Adam Brown – Adam and his 20.7 fantasy points per game are solid so far this season and this month he has upped his average to become the 5th overall player at his position, only behind league leaders such as Langhurst, Rundles and Bell.
Questionable –
If you don’t agree with our above selections here are 3 more players you should consider this weekend.
Forward – Anthony Rowe – An average of 16.35 fantasy points per game over the season and 24 fantasy points per game in the last 4 matches including a 34 point fantasy outing against the Rocks.
Centre – Matt Schneck – This was a toss-up between Schneck and Defoe this weekend, with both being among the league leaders in stat’s, I decided to go with Matt thanks to his 23.5 fantasy points per game over the last 4 compared with Defoe’s 9.5 in the same number of matches.
Guard – Joe Chapman – When his team needs to win Joe usually steps up, against title hopeful Leicester last weekend Joe went for 31 fantasy points and his side got an 87 – 79 victory in what was one of the most important games this season.
Those are our tips for this weekend in BBL Fantasy Basketball, so head on over to http://www.bbl.org.uk/?fantasy,1075 and make any changes necessary, see you next week for the next BBL Fantasy Basketball Weekend Preview.
Sam Raphael Chadwick is currently an Assistant Quantity Surveyor, Part-Time University Student and Co-Head Coach of the Solent Kestrels Under 14’s, I also contribute for www.ballineurope.com you can find me on twitter @chadwick9