betprepare.com

Turk Telekom beat Efes in the national cup last week...

Tofas are a young team and the majority of problems today could come for them in the "big-player" positions as Telekom have better team depth there as Tofas depend solely on Elon

This is one of the most interesting games at the opening of the season in Turkey. Tofas rejuvenated the team compared to the last season, which saw them getting as far as the playoffs. They lost some important players like Ruzic, Altintig, Nichols, Sipahi, but they brought in good replacement, such as Karsiyaka's Buker, Balazic and Stipcevis and excellent young US player Denmon. The arrival of small forward / shooting guard Serhat Cetin from Besiktas is especially notable. Private reasons were the key factor behind this decision, as he had allegedly received much better offers from some Istanbul teams.

Last week they fought their way to the cup quarterfinals at Edirne, in a challenging group with the home team, Fener and Torku Selcuk. They put up a good resistance against Fener the first dayy, coach Ahmen Caki was pleased with what he saw and immediately announced that they must beat the home team the following day. And they did it, more convincingly than anyone had expected. It ended 91-71, with 19 points from Rok Stipcevic and 17 from Denmon, while excellent Chinemelu Elonu added 16 plus 11 rebounds. This Nigerian center is close to getting a double-double in every game and has become the key player in the tall rotation. He is one of the rare players who are still here after the last season.

On the third day, in an unimportant game, they beat Selcuk in overtime 90-89 with 27 points by Denmon and 26 by Elonu. They made a very good impression overall, especially Croatian point guard Stipcevic, who joined the team late, after it became known that the biggest Turkish prospect Kenan Sipahi was going to Fenerbahce after all. Stipcevic rapidly got promoted as the starting play and after a good season in Italy, it seems he has settled in well in Turkey too.

Generally speaking, they play a fast-paced basketball, with a lot of three-point shots. Stipcevic, Buker, Denmon, Balazic, Cetin - they are all very good three-point scorers. What seems a potential problem is their inside game, as they lack a quality tall player aside from Elonu. They do have several very young ones, like Razaman (b. 1993), Muhsin (b. 1995), Senli (b. 1992), Dokuyan (b. 1993)... and in terms of today's game, they could face a lot of problems there as Turk Telekom are a very good team with Andric, Nalga, Besok and Bogdanovic in the "big-player" positions. Compared to Tofas, this is a big advantage.

It also seems that coach Josip Vrankovic has made his players work together well. Turk Telekom beat Efes Pilsen last week in Mersin to qualify for the national cup quarterfinals. They did, however, lose on the last day to TED Ankara, but it wasn't an important game. Ramel Bradley, formerly of Cedevita, is their top player in the offense; he scored 24 points against Efes. Luka Bogdanovic had a great season in Spain and he continues with good performances in Turkey. Luksa Andric stood out on the last day with 21 points. Vrankovic has the team depth and good rotation options. It is a completely new team compared to the last season and they could play an important role now with the likes of Tunceri, Bradley, Bogdanovic, Shipp. The playoffs are their minimum goal.

This is an encounter of two even teams, but I have to favor Turk Telekom to win here. Josip Vrankovic did a good job in the preseason, they played some nice basketball, managed to beat Efes Pilsen last week and have shown that they have a team ready to fight for the playoffs. Tofas are a rejuvenated team, several players from the last season are gone, and they will be especially inferior in the paint against Turk Telekom, who are much stronger in that department with Nagla, Bogdanovic, Besok, Andric... Coach Vrankovic has plenty of options. Tofas' point guard Stipcevic was a pleasant surprise last week, but I think that Tunceri can shut him down without too much trouble. Bradley is in an excellent form, and if Telekom's defense can do a good job on Denmon, they will travel from Bursa to Ankara with two points in their pocket.