The losses of Ekpe Udoh and Bogdan Bogdanovic to the NBA don’t appear to have hampered Fenerbahce Istanbul, at least not in the eyes of the bookmakers.
The early word on online sports betting is that Fenerbahce still looks the strongest outfit to win it all in Belgrade next May with the reigning champions nearly unanimously installed as favourites or co-favourites across the board. While Fenerbahce have made notable additions in the forms of Nik Melli and Sinan Guler, the losses of Udoh and Bogdanovic make their price of 1/3 in some markets seem excessive. The longest odds on the defending champions is 11/4, which still puts them a squeeze ahead of CSKA Moscow.
With CSKA the switch was quite straightforward, out went Milos Teodosic and in came Sergio Rodriguez. While having similar strengths and weaknesses, the guards are far from identical in style but the move is still enough for CSKA to be pegged at 11/4 on one market and no longer than 3/1 on any market.
The big value play across the books is Real Madrid. With the core retained and few notable additions, Los Blancos offer tremendous value for a third favourite. Real’s shortest price is 9/4, making them favourites in one market, but the majority of books have them between 12/5 and 7/2. That’s a cracking range and gives bettors a decent bit of value to kick off the season.
Those looking for a dash of arbitrage are going to have to do some hard thinking this season. The dream runs of Zalgiris, 66/1 to 100/1 in markets, and Crvena Zvezda, available between 66/1 and 150/1, look unlikely to be repeated so a long odds side making the playoffs to set up a cash out situation isn’t going to be easy. Valencia, available as long as 50/1, and Anadolu Efes, who can be found at 30/1 on most markets, offer easily the most value here. Get one of these to the playoffs, look for a balancing play and hope to carry it through the Final Four. Panathinaikos, 12/1 in most markets, and Olympiacos, 8/1 in most markets, simply don’t offer enough wriggle room. The Greens are far more playable than the Reds right now but punts are still going to have to push hard when it comes to the post-season with a number like that.
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