';
?>
We feel devotion
DataCenter
HIGH VOLTAGE
The Butterfly Effect
A chain reaction of last-minute changes unraveled High Voltage’s plan and doomed an already tricky Round 4.
Published: 15/10/2025 14:47
When it rains, it pours — and that’s exactly how last night unfolded for High Voltage. At around 18:30, just half an hour before tip-off, came the news that Horton Tucker was injured and would miss Fenerbahce’s upcoming game against Dubai. The American had just joined the team — albeit through a bit of a domino effect — so the plan needed to be rewritten immediately.
The obvious solution? Keep Baldwin, who was originally being sold to make room for his teammate, since he’d now have more freedom on the court. But the 0.6 extra credits required triggered a cascade of changes. In the end, we circled back to one of the earlier scenarios, featuring Oturu and De Larrea — only that the Spaniard could fit the budget only in the Horton Tucker version. So a downgrade was needed. Dos Santos seemed like a promising alternative, but that required another small sacrifice. Since the Fener guard swap was effectively reversed, there was one more change available — thus, Jackson and his extra 0.4 credits made way for Kalaitzakis, a typical 4-credit player.
And just like that, Motiejunas was sacrificed — a player who could have easily turned into a major Fantasy steal, as he confirmed with his performance against Zalgiris (20.9 fantasy points in 20:16). Even at 7.3 credits, his price remains manageable, but the ideal timing for his acquisition was lost — one round before the rest of the managers would jump on him. Combined with everything else that went wrong last night, it really hurts the team’s momentum.
There was also the option of changing the coach to free up credits, but I rarely alter my coaching plan that close to the deadline unless there are two overwhelming favorites. Since all other serious alternatives were pricier than Saras, I didn’t take the risk of switching to Tabellini — and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fenerbahce was a complete disaster, turning into a punching bag for an impressive Dubai side and losing by 24 points at home. Saras’s team looked dreadful overall and, to make matters worse, had to rely on Wilbekin, who hadn’t played real basketball in a year. There was only one brief spark, before the American started his theatrics and extinguished everything. Minus 20 points from Saras, minus 20.9 from Motiejunas — and so, Fantasy Happens.
No one escaped unscathed — Baldwin produced his third total mediocre double-digit score, a 12 this time, with 12 points (6/8 FG), 5 assists, and just 1 drawn foul in 22:18, without a single free throw. We didn’t dodge that one either.
Dos Santos also failed to deliver despite a promising start with 6 assists in his first few minutes. He finished with a 5 PIR, scoring 4 points and handing out no further assists in 13:14 of play, as Obradovic ran nearly the entire game with Miller-McIntyre and Nwora in the backcourt. And with Nwora’s 34 fantasy points, it seems that his time to join the team may has come.
In Piraeus, Olympiacos struggled, and High Voltage’s players underperformed relative to their price tags. Not Vezenkov, though — he posted a 19 Index Rating with 12 points (2/6 FG, 8/9 FT), 7 rebounds, and 6 drawn fouls in 29:54, staying roughly in line with his previous output. Milutinov improved a bit after halftime, but his 10 PIR (7 points on 2/5 FG, 3/4 FT, and 3 rebounds in 19:26) is still well below expectations, while Dorsey dropped to 7 PIR despite scoring 11 points (4/12 FG) and drawing 4 fouls without a single trip to the line. The free throws made all the difference — he wasn’t shooting particularly well in previous rounds either, but let’s call it Fantasy justice: Dorsey puts up a 7 while Lucic, for example, explodes for 24 (against Milan, in his first good game of the season).
As for Osmani, he remained reliable, scraping together 9.9 with 12 points in 17 minutes — limited playing time this time due to 5 personal fouls.
With all these low scores, the -20 from Fener (plus the budget hit) becomes even more painful and naturally raises some tactical questions. The plan was for Saras to stay through Round 5, but now that’s far from certain. We’ll revisit that tomorrow.
For now, Oturu and Forrest move into the starting lineup in place of the single-digit performers (Dos Santos, Dorsey), while Osmani, Milutinov, and Baldwin remain starters by necessity.
As for the captaincy, given the context of this round, I’ll play it safe and keep Vezenkov’s 19, which practically offsets Saras’s -20. If I had to choose freely, though, I’d probably chase Forrest’s ceiling in Paris.
Thus, the final roster of High Voltage for Round 4 of the game will likely look as follows:
Devotion.
The obvious solution? Keep Baldwin, who was originally being sold to make room for his teammate, since he’d now have more freedom on the court. But the 0.6 extra credits required triggered a cascade of changes. In the end, we circled back to one of the earlier scenarios, featuring Oturu and De Larrea — only that the Spaniard could fit the budget only in the Horton Tucker version. So a downgrade was needed. Dos Santos seemed like a promising alternative, but that required another small sacrifice. Since the Fener guard swap was effectively reversed, there was one more change available — thus, Jackson and his extra 0.4 credits made way for Kalaitzakis, a typical 4-credit player.
And just like that, Motiejunas was sacrificed — a player who could have easily turned into a major Fantasy steal, as he confirmed with his performance against Zalgiris (20.9 fantasy points in 20:16). Even at 7.3 credits, his price remains manageable, but the ideal timing for his acquisition was lost — one round before the rest of the managers would jump on him. Combined with everything else that went wrong last night, it really hurts the team’s momentum.
There was also the option of changing the coach to free up credits, but I rarely alter my coaching plan that close to the deadline unless there are two overwhelming favorites. Since all other serious alternatives were pricier than Saras, I didn’t take the risk of switching to Tabellini — and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fenerbahce was a complete disaster, turning into a punching bag for an impressive Dubai side and losing by 24 points at home. Saras’s team looked dreadful overall and, to make matters worse, had to rely on Wilbekin, who hadn’t played real basketball in a year. There was only one brief spark, before the American started his theatrics and extinguished everything. Minus 20 points from Saras, minus 20.9 from Motiejunas — and so, Fantasy Happens.
No one escaped unscathed — Baldwin produced his third total mediocre double-digit score, a 12 this time, with 12 points (6/8 FG), 5 assists, and just 1 drawn foul in 22:18, without a single free throw. We didn’t dodge that one either.
Dos Santos also failed to deliver despite a promising start with 6 assists in his first few minutes. He finished with a 5 PIR, scoring 4 points and handing out no further assists in 13:14 of play, as Obradovic ran nearly the entire game with Miller-McIntyre and Nwora in the backcourt. And with Nwora’s 34 fantasy points, it seems that his time to join the team may has come.
In Piraeus, Olympiacos struggled, and High Voltage’s players underperformed relative to their price tags. Not Vezenkov, though — he posted a 19 Index Rating with 12 points (2/6 FG, 8/9 FT), 7 rebounds, and 6 drawn fouls in 29:54, staying roughly in line with his previous output. Milutinov improved a bit after halftime, but his 10 PIR (7 points on 2/5 FG, 3/4 FT, and 3 rebounds in 19:26) is still well below expectations, while Dorsey dropped to 7 PIR despite scoring 11 points (4/12 FG) and drawing 4 fouls without a single trip to the line. The free throws made all the difference — he wasn’t shooting particularly well in previous rounds either, but let’s call it Fantasy justice: Dorsey puts up a 7 while Lucic, for example, explodes for 24 (against Milan, in his first good game of the season).
As for Osmani, he remained reliable, scraping together 9.9 with 12 points in 17 minutes — limited playing time this time due to 5 personal fouls.
With all these low scores, the -20 from Fener (plus the budget hit) becomes even more painful and naturally raises some tactical questions. The plan was for Saras to stay through Round 5, but now that’s far from certain. We’ll revisit that tomorrow.
For now, Oturu and Forrest move into the starting lineup in place of the single-digit performers (Dos Santos, Dorsey), while Osmani, Milutinov, and Baldwin remain starters by necessity.
As for the captaincy, given the context of this round, I’ll play it safe and keep Vezenkov’s 19, which practically offsets Saras’s -20. If I had to choose freely, though, I’d probably chase Forrest’s ceiling in Paris.
Roster
Thus, the final roster of High Voltage for Round 4 of the game will likely look as follows:
Devotion.
