Maccabi Tel Aviv Voted EuroLeague Dark Horse in Annual GMs Survey
Maccabi Tel Aviv has been voted joint-favorite with Zalgiris Kaunas as the EuroLeague dark horse in the annual GMs survey, while Olympiacos leads Final Four picks.
Maccabi Tel Aviv may not be widely tipped for the EuroLeague playoffs, but general managers believe the club can pull off a surprise.
The Dark Horse of the EuroLeague
In the second part of the annual EuroLeague GMs survey conducted by Backstnews, the yellow-and-blue shared first place with Zalgiris Kaunas in the "dark horse" category, securing 26.7% of the votes each. General managers took notice of Maccabi's revamped roster, which added players like Keiton Wallace, Daniel Theis, Bonzie Colson, and Yam Madar, despite operating on a lower budget than Zalgiris and playing home games on neutral ground.
"Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zalgiris Kaunas are tied as the leading dark horse candidates for the upcoming EuroLeague season, capturing the attention of league executives." — EuroLeague GMs Survey
Final Four Predictions and Favorites
When it comes to the Final Four, Olympiacos received a unanimous 100% of the votes from participating executives. Panathinaikos followed with 86.7%, Real Madrid with 73.3%, and Fenerbahce with 66.7%. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos was voted the clear favorite to win the championship title, capturing 46.7% of the votes after a strong summer transfer window.
Individual Awards and NBA Prospects
Olympiacos forward Sasha Vezenkov topped the MVP poll with 40% of the votes, followed by teammate Jean Montero with 26.7%. Montero also dominated the category for players most likely to make the jump to the NBA, receiving 53.3% of the votes ahead of Kendrick Nunn.
