Curious case of young women’s basketball players

Posted by: anonymous 2012-06-20 11:08 in Coaches/Players News, Featured, General WB Features, Youth/Rising Stars

The holly game of Basketball long ago stopped to be just a game. It become business for many, so somewhere down the road, it lost what it had when it was “just a game”.

As James Brown sings: “This is a man’s world but it would be nothing without a woman or a girl.” Same goes for basketball. Now we have situation that some of women’s teams have bigger budgets than some of the men’s teams (UMMC Ekatarinburg, for example, have 3 times bigger budget than KK Partizan Belgrade – Euroleague MEN team!). So, what that brought to women’s basketball? Quality? For sure. Problems? A lot of them. But people usually do not want to speak about that.

Here I would like to speak about talents that were lost during the road or those that had very bumpy ride…

Eastern Europe and especially countries of former Yugoslavia was troughout the years an area where you could find talents in big numbers. There is also similar story about countries that once were USSR.

After the final collapse of communist system, people in those countries were left in transition to new political systems that led to very poor living conditions, low salaries and it reflects on sports as well. As most of the countries were on the edge, nobody was thinking about sports except maybe football and basketball (men’s basketball of course) so it left women sport marginalized. So what about those talents?

They tried to find better solutions…

Parents:

When you work for few Euros a month and when you cannot provide your kids enough, you are always looking for alternatives. If your daughter is a talented basketball player, would you let her go abroad for a big money? For a chance that she can make good living and a chance that she can be provider of a family…I guess most would parents would…

Agents:

How many of them really care about their players? How many of them are ready to invest their time to try to educate those young girls what is a life of a professional basketball player? Not many of them. Agents usually care only about commission and if they see the chance to get even few more euros, they are going after that chance.

Clubs:

They like to have new promising girls on their team. But those that could give young athletes a chance to play and develop usually do not have big money and are not primary targets for agents of those young girls. Smaller salaries means smaller commissions, also means less money for players families.

Coaches:

Constantly under pressure to make great results, coaches of big teams are not willing or better say, they are afraid to give a chance to young players. Also, playing 2 games a week does not give much of a chance for individual work with those young girls.

So what do we have then?

“Hungry parents”, Greedy agents, Clubs and coaches that do not care too much because there will be new talents…and we are going round and round…

Imagine a player who is for example 18 years old, left her home for a first time. Living now in Russia or Spain. Nobody cares about her that much. Parents are home. Agents got their commissions. Club is playing Euroleague and has ambition to win it. Coach is under pressure. Where is the girl? In practice, she is most likely on the side while the team is going through tactics for next game. During the game she is sitting on the bench. But the money is good…it brings stuff you could not have or try when they were home…and the problems starts…They are losing control, they are trying to find an “exit” , they are burning inside cause they didn’t met the expectations cause they thought they will be “the main players” as they were back home. Again, where are the parents or agents? Not present…

I could write many pages about the problems that occur with those young girls (remember, they are still girls!!!) but let’s go to concrete examples…I will not mention those who we “lost” along the way…because probably, most people do not remember them…I will speak about girls that are on basketball scene now and took their examples:

Gintare Petronyte: Few years ago, she was considered one of the biggest talents in Europe in her position. Started her way right, playing for Athinaikos and won FIBA Eurocup. After that, she was SOLD to Galatasaray, team that needs instant success. Because of the rules in Turkish league, she was part of the team only in Euroleague games…was cut from the team…than she went to Polkowice and again was cut.

Ana Turcinovic: Last year had some minutes in Montenegro national team in European Championship. She was one of the best players in Adriatic league. Her club at that time, Celje, and one of the agents made a deal and she was SOLD to Ramle. Played FIBA Eurocup and Israeli league and as soon as team was eliminated from EuroCup, she was cut from the team. She went to Faenza in Italy where she barely played. She had 18 seconds playing time for Montenegro in 2 of the games in qualification round for European Championship in France. Will go back to Ramla and story will be the same.

Elina Babkina: Player that is neither a shooting guard nor a point guard. Had great season in Lotos Gdynia but then she wanted to take five steps at the same time and signed with Fenerbahce. Played very limited time, someone says it’s because of injury but the fact is: she was not ready for that level. Now she took two steps back and is going to play in Targoviste (Romania).

Jelena Milovanovic: MVP of youth European championship few years ago, made great move by signing in Sopron, place that is well known for developing young players. Was there two years and then, instead of going next level, she made the same mistake as the above mentioned Babkina. She took huge step and went to Spartak Moscow. Seat on the bench, was 6^th foreigner with very limited playing time. Now back to Sopron where she started.

Natalia Vieru: Spent many seasons in Spartak Moscow and last season got a chance to shine in Good Angels Kosice. She used that chance and had very good season. Now back to Spartak and don’t know how much playing time she will have with Dupree and Yacoubou playing inside.

Ana Dabovic: After great season in mid-level Russian team and in FIBA EuroCup, signed with Wisla as a point guard. Again a too big a step for young and inexperienced girl. Contract was big but playing time was not.

And we can talk about more examples but this should be enough…

The solution is very simple but on the other hand, it’s very hard:

Go step by step! Young players needs playing time, they need constant attention. They need their summers to be used for individual work – on basketball and on their bodies.

Playing time they will get by signing for “smaller teams” and we have example of those teams even in Euroleague: Sopron, Kosice and even Brno

Players must choose agents that can build project for them. Big agencies usually do not have time to speak to players almost on daily basis and they don’t care too much what player is doing in off season. Most of those agents never were involved in basketball so they don’t know much except how to negotiate contracts.

And parents…they must be patient…in the end, those girls are your daughters and you are responsible for them even when they turn 18. Money will come but pushing those young girls to “lions” when they are not ready will leave wounds that they will not heal for long time…

Hector

and you forgot about Louice Halvarsson, Sara Leeman and many other…
- basketball
  
  Adrijana Knezevic, Regina Palusna, Tamara Abalde, Nika Baric, Snezana Aleksic and many, many others.
  - basketball
    
    About what share you are talking about? You want to say that general managers and agents are sharing the money? I can’t believe !!! But that is against the rules, and now some things are becoming very clear.
  - Steve Costalas
    
    Mr. Pepe (if that is even your real name – because I believe you are a fat, failure of an “agent” who lives and works in a Central European country and who is wanted by the tax authorities in his own country. Except if you are his Iberian partner).
    1) I never thought of asking much more received any share for the transfer of Baric – much more of Turcinovic who went to Israel. If you have any proof please make sure you present it when requested by the legal authorities while defending yourself.
    Mr. Giapalakis is a respected WNBA and FIBA agent, which really scrutinizes the ethics of all its agents. Of course you might know beter (ha ha ha ha)
    The GM of Celje (whom I met only once) gave me the impression of a respectable person who has the absolute trust of his President. Except if you imply that the Club President also is getting a share of your imaginary “pie”
    Mr. Torres, whom I know for many years, is one of the most honorable people, as well as agent, I have met. But what I think of him is not as important as the fact that he has never represented Palushna. Oooops, you really must feel foolish now.
    As for Nicolas San Jose and Josep Martin I can only say that their players swear by their professionalism and I really do not understand your “great work” comment which without doubt is supposed to be sarcastic. Especially Halvarsson (who I personally know and have followed) was being doing great….
    Please, Pepe or whatever you real name(s) is, please accept a piece of advice. Look yourself in the mirror and be honest: Do you like what you see?
    - Pepe Matanza
      
      Mr.Steve (if this is your real name),
      People in basketball do not respect you. So your compliments for those agents look like a joke and will just bring them damage.So since you did them a big favour,I would not talk more about them but to start with others so you can “help” them too :) ?
      You can hide all kind of the things you do…but kids you can not.At least,not for a long period of time.
      After the tragic dead of Mr.Kalmanovic, you won NOTHING!Except Euroleague that season but I do not count it because you were not the one who made the team.
      And for being fat and Iberian.Im neither fat, neither Iberian, neither failiour of an agent, neither im wanted by tax authorities. I dont believe you are Iberian but Im sure that you are fat.
- bambina
  
  Also Vieru, Malashenko, Maznichenko, my favorite one Bojovic ( ex Musovic )…
  - Pepe
    
    So we see that Vieru should not go back to Spartak. In Euroleague, she is making decent numbers if u just look at average.But most of that stats were made vs Brno and Gyor,two of the weakest teams in their group.Vs harder opponenst, she again have limited minutes.
bubica

Very nice article. Very true article. I just dont know on who this article will have influence cause.. agents will still chase their commissions ( not all, but most of them ), big clubs will keep on playing big stars instead giving chance to young players, and parents.. some of them doesnt know anything about basketball, they just give their daughters to agents to decide about their future, some of them are greedy.. And that leaves us with 16, 17, 18 years old girls that are not ready to understand border between basketball, and professional basketball. Sometimes not even their parents know it, so how can we expect it from girls.. And on the end, its not just about basketball, its about their health as well, cause girl left alone in big world, in big club, with lot of pressure and sudenly a lot of money – it never ends well. Janis, I want to compliment you effort for making this article. It makes me happy to know that some people are aware of this things and are ready to make this opinion public. Thank you Janis.
- Jānis Kacēns
  
  It’s not written by me. It was submitted by someone who wished to remain anonymous. :)
  - bubica
    
    In my opinion people should say those things out loud and all day repeating them, without staying anonimous. Thats how they can affect girls brains and make them to think about next step, not just money.. Cause, if nobody say it, it doesnt exist..
    
    Then compliments to you, anonymous..
basketball

This article is totally true. It is very hard to go step by step, neither in basketball carrier or in life. It is important to have life philosophy. Long time ago, players competed who will be a better MASTER of basketball, today we have players who compete which contract is bigger and it is not important what they can give for that money. How many players you saw that play for thousands of Euros and they don’t know the basic things in basketball? They are only strong and they have great agents, that is their main characteristic. On the other side, how can you explain to the talented kid who got big contract that she needs to workout during the summer? Of course, that kid thinks: I have big contract, that means I know everything.
Problem is big and we can write and talk a few days about that.
It is very positive that someone wrote article like this.
Steve Costalas

While there is some truth to what is said in the article based on my personal experiences there are some issues I have to bring up:
1) It is unacceptable that the article is signed by “anonymous”. Either a writer signs what he believes in or this writer who is expecting personal gain from this article. ONLY cowards do not sign what they believe and eventually write.
2) Milovanovic arrived to Spartak when she was 21 years old… Is the writer of this article claiming that at that age she did not know EXACTLY what she was doing? Then 21 years old women should not vote, get married, raise children or in general make any life decisions… Also why does the writer ignore the fact that during her stay in Spartak she took care of her future while gaining great experiences (ELW Finalist etc). Of course the fact she had two serious injuries just last season is completely ignored by the so called “writer”
3) True Vieru was on the Club’s roster many years. But in those years she received the fundamentals that helped her be able to play as well as she played last season. As for this year your anonymous writer shows ignorance when it comes to players because as the whole world knows Dupree is a 4 who out of necessity played the 5. At the center position we will have only Yacoubou and Vieru. After all last year she played 23 minutes a game and I do not believe she will be far from what this season. Let us wait first before we predict the worst…..
Finally: As for Baric Sparta&k did pay a buy-out. A buy-out which freed her from a long term – very very low paying contract and which gave her a chance to move up and play with while learning from Becky Hammon, Jelena Skerovic (last season) and Elisa Aguilar (this season). Can anybody put a price to what she has and will learn from these quality experienced players.
Of course I am surprised that with all the “sensitivity” this self appointed saviour of the youth of European Basketball does not mention anything about the Clubs that pay peanuts to young players and hold them with long term contracts signed (if they were ever signed)by teenagers.
We in Spartak are proud for what we have done for the future of basketball. We have 200 kids participating FREE in our youth programs, 60 of them live FREE in an apartment building which we built with our own money, we have supplied all Russian National Youth Teams with at least two players per team and finally we have signed great young talent such as Sonja Petrovic and Nika Baric who love it here.
I dare Mr. Anonymous to ask these or any of our young players if they feel “used” by Spartak because I am positive the players will give him the answer he deserves.
Mr. Anonymous, please get a life and talk about things (if there are any) that you know about.
- Baas
  
  From your story, agents are angels, clubs are perfect, obviously YOUNG PLAYERS are the ones whos fault it is. How we didnt realize it?? Its pointless to answer your comments.. first because i dare to say that you care only about money, and second, all that Spartak did or doing now was not built thanks to you, but Mr. Shabtai and his wife. You are the weekest link in the chain of Spartak. Deal with it.
John Doe

Milovanovic wasn’t a good example, that’s true. 1. She had injuries at Spartak. 2. The move from Sopron wasn’t too big for her because in Hungary she was the go-to-guy number one player of a Final Four team. Where else should have gone to?
On the other, hand Vieru was spot on. I had very low opinion of her, which has changed quite a lot thanks to her year at Kosice. We’ll see, what minutes she’ll get back in Moscow and how she’ll be able to deliver. Same goes for Baric. She got the minutes, but that was one year. She did perform, so she should get the chance next season too, and we’ll see…But the point of the artice was that we’re talking about young girls. If they fail to step up (not to mention, regulary), that could be of mental, physical or personal problems, not just because of bad management or suspicious agents. Add the fact, that these girls entering a league full of star players. An 18-year old encounters Taurasi only at autograph hours in the US, here she must play and perform with or against her. And not once in a lifetime, but once a week sometimes. So, you can’t pick one thing and attribute to it all the problems.

Now aboutSpartak. They didn’t used Vieru, but the second half is coming apparently, and the player, thanks to the loan (and Stepanovas injury) is about to be an Olympian.
They brought up a 19-year old guard from abroad and gave her chance. The story is on its way, just like in case of NV. Just recently they made another pioneer move with Meesseman. And have loaned Tikhonenko to a small club. If this is what you call bad management, what about say, UMMC, where a Rakhmatulina retires from the bench, an Abrosimova (sometimes Arthesina) doesn’t get no minutes, and even Taylor or Bibrzycka had to sit out while the other one performed on the court. And UMMC is a club, that has definitely improved their HR-policy in recent 2 or 3 years, at least compared to the likes of Galata or Valencia.

ELW is really an unregulated league. Partly because of the number of countries involved with it, but the main reason in my opinion is the huge difference between clubs. You have extremly rich clubs and quite poor ones, you have Olympic champions and HS-players. That’s a diversity you can not regulate well. But maybe small adjustments can be made here or there. What if you try to regulate the movement of players aged between 17 and say, 22. If a ELW club signs a youngster, rule number one would be that they should contract her at least for two years (tough or not, you have to have some kind of responsibilty towards kids, you just don’t want to introduce them to the swinger-party lifestyle too early, now Russia, next year Turkey, who knows what comes after that). Rule number two is about education, with the idea coming from the Meesseman deal and the age limit difference between WNBA and NBA eligibility. So, beyond the car and flat the club shall provide their new player some kind of higher education possibility (unless she has a degree or is a student already, of course), while at the same time the regulation would require young players to participate in a college program. They don’t have to be NASA-engineers, but let’s make them learn something they can use after they gave up on basketball.

Finally, there is pro-ball and there is streetball. In pro-ball you’ll get paid, in turn sometimes you’ll get sold. If you don’t like it, you have the freedom to choose a different kind of ballgame. But if you made your choice, you have to live with it, thus, you have to obey the rules. That’s why we have to have proper rules.
Edgars

Women need to be in charge of more womens basketball- coaching, directing, as well as agents.

In the case of Babkina, this is a sex skandal that is ongoing with her coach from NT2010, Lotos, NT2011, Fener, and now Targoviste.

They should just come out of the closet and make an announcement. Its pitiful already.
- basketball
  
  It is not sex scandal, it is a LOVE. And LOVE happens in all spheres of job. :-)
  - Edgars
    
    Its OK if its love, but it should be open- “I’m playing my point guard because we’re in love- thats why when she has 9 turnovers in 1 game, I keep her on the floor, thats why when she has 1 assist to 5 turnover ratio and shoots airballs, she’s staying on the floor and better point guards can sit on the bench- because its LOVE!”
    - Pepe Matanza
      
      The main thing is that she is NOT a point guard!
      One of the reasons why this guy left Fenerbahce is that he wanted Babkina to stay.We will see how this love story will develop. As one of the Turkish web pages wrote: they are going to get married.If thats true, all the best wishes to them.
      - Edgars
        
        When you get down to it, she’s not a basketball player to be taken seriously at any position. You can’t play her at the 2 because she shoots a low % and her form is terrible, she has more of a throw from her shoulder than a true set or jump shot. Sometimes it goes in, but not enough for her to play in ELW.
        
        She’s also very small, and very weak. They list her at 174, but she’s more like 170 if her shoes are off. Her arms are weak, she can’t throw long passes and she’s shrieking like a 3 year old when something happens- maybe Diks thinks it cute, it looks really childish though. No one but him takes her serious.
    - basketball
      
      Taurasi shoots 13/0 sometimes, and she keeps playing till the end of game !!!!
      If Babkina plays for other coach she will also have turnovers and she will be at the floor, but no one will say she plays because of love. She is not real point guard.
      - Edgars
        
        Taurasi is 6′ tall. If you want to compare Babkina to Taurasi, bad choice in comparison. Taurasi is a serious player with a history. Babkina is a baby compared to her and she couldn’t play for any other coach- never did, until Diks propped her up and protected her through all her flaws and mistakes on the floor.
    - John Doe
      
      I don’t see this Babkina situation that bad. She is 23, still not overaged to get some muscles. Definitely not SG, but has the capability to be a decent PG. I don’t think she would fit in say, the Montenegro NT with that lack of depth and characters like Dubljevic (that team really needs a Skerovic type seasoned pro), but the Latvian NT seems to be OK place for her. They have a true leader, some useful bench, a nice center, good perimeter players, so Babkina could fill the puzzle. And maybe Fener was too big of a step for her, but that doesn’t mean she wont be able to make impact on a smaller ELW club.
      - Edgars
        
        She’s not going to get playing time anywhere, on any team, at a decent level, unless she’s sleeping with the coach.
        
        I’ve watched her play 20 or more games, she’s a joke of a player, she’s not better than when she was 20, but yet Diks has pushed her name up as “starting PG of Lotos” and “starting PG of LV NT” for 2 summers, and with the help of dirty agents who must owe him a favor “drafted by LA Sparks” which Penny Toler said she knew nothing about, just took the word of an agent, and then an “All European” selection on Eurobasket.com.
        
        Get real, she’s a bad player, she’s selfish, and sleeping with a player and hiding it are bad business for any team. Look what happened when he shoved her into games in ELW final games in Istanbul- way down performance by the whole team, which caused problems. Vardarli is a much better player, but doesn’t mean as much to Diks, so he lost because he played his lover to keep her happy.
        
        This is a long story which makes Diks look bad as much as Babkina. Who wants her around when they all know that she gets preferential treatment by the coach? Why would a coach quit a high profile job like Fener because a low level player like Babkina wasn’t wanted? Good luck with the mayor getting re-elected and getting a budget in Targoviste to build a team. Diks isn’t a good coach, he flopped in Latvia last year- they are out of Olympics because of the Babkina stunts…
Edgars

“There is one fact: Babkina signed in Fener before Diks. Fener wanted her because “she played great against them while she was in Gdynia”…WOW!!!”

I have to disagree with this, I was told by a source very close to the situation that Zane was made the offer first, that Diks was taken next- and he lied and told Zane that HE was the one who brought her there and not her agent, and that Babkina was taken at Diks request- however the order they announced it is irrelevant, they play these games between themselves so it doesn’t look bad.

I was also told that the agent promised Feners GM that the rumors of Diks and Babkina were false. This was found out as a lie immediately, as some of the other players in Turkey, like Monica Wright, had played in Lotos and knew the whole story. Diks kept his pitifully inexperienced assistant coach- Martinez, along because he was the wing man who helped cover the relationship in LV NT. LV director never knew about the scandal being true, until October- even though his wifes brother was live in boyfriend of Babkina for 5 years! He was told by a player, who was kicked out for “talking” about the skandal, but didn’t believe it.

Had Babkina showed up in LV NT this season, she would have had no friends, and the coach has never played her that much- my guess is that Karklina would have started at 1, and he would probably play Krastina more than Babkina- she’s the same size and much better scorer and not a child on the floor. Eibele would have probably had more playing time, if nothing else, just because he likes her more.

If you look at the photos of Babkina since she was 20, she’s aging badly, looks tormented, and her body seems to be falling apart in places. My guess would be that Diks impregnates her to keep her. This is a huge score for a little greasy Greek who looks like he never sleeps- a blond from Latvia. What a prize.
- Pepe Matanza
  
  Wow.I tought that I know a lot about what is going inside but those are new informations for me. I tought that Babkina was signed first in Fener but I guess I was wrong. I think that even Janis was talking something about this matter cause he is from Latvia.
  Those guys who are cheating their wifes (inlcuding “fat Iberian” aka Efstratios aka “Call me Steve” who got a baby with young Russian girl and tried to hide that and playing here he is the most honest man) are obviously low level kind of people(at least for me). It seem that both of them are Greeks,no? From the country that is on the edge of bancroupcy and one of the reasons is that nobody pay taxes, no? I think we also have one example of “latino lover” between those guys that Steve was deffending with such a big passion…
  Im sorry, but I do not believe that you can be cheater in your private life and be honest in business. Because you are either man or they call you Steve…
  - Edgars
    
    They want to make it look like Babkina was signed first, and not that Diks dragged her there, but look at what happened when she flopped in Fener. The other nice story that I heard from a player there was that they offered Diks to have his choice- Becky Hammon or Babkina- he took his lover instead of a proven WNBA player and good scorer. The result was that they dropped Babkina from the Turkish league roster, and signed Cappie to be able to at least win that competition.
    
    My guess is they’ve already made the deal with Babkina in Targoviste, and are waiting for awhile to make it look more like they didn’t plan it out. Like that will fool anyone outside of the Latvian Federation.
    
    You can’t blame Babkina, she was never a good player in Latvian league, she didn’t get playing time in Challes, she was ridiculed in Lotos until they replaced the coach with Diks. The original coach that season said after a few games in an interview- “Its obvious we have no point guard on this team!” On the Olympic team from Latvia, Coach Zvigzdins never played her either, and was quoted as saying “how can she be on Latvian NT with a Russian name like Babkina?”
    
    Babkinas mom was working as a food shop clerk in Rimi at Alfa Centers in Riga. She left to go to work in the UK, where she now cleans toilets and bedpans for old people in a pensioners home. Babkina doesn’t want to end up like that, and doesn’t want to have to sell her CCCP styled cheesy gold chains, so she sleeps her way to a paycheck. Diks divorced his wife, who was probably the typical greek woman with a big butt and more hair on her arms than the Israeli army has, to be able to have his trophy little pimple faced Babkina on his arm in public.
    
    He has to keep her playing and bargaining for her future, much like a sleazy Hollywood fake producer goes about making promises of stardom to a beautiful young starlet, but Babkina is no starlet, she’s a weak little player, immature on the floor, and another season of these 2 will show what a train wreck of a pair they are when they team up in basketball. They should decide- love, or basketball, and be done with it and stop torturing other players and management with this farce. Love is fine, just that they don’t mix with good decision making as a coach…
    - bubica
      
      Mr Edgars, I share your opinion about Elina on the floor. But I think this is a bit to much. I dont like her but still i feel uncomfortable to read things you wrote. This is site about basketball and we can keep it that way, dont put private and family things in comments, please.
      - Edgars
        
        Yes its about basketball- and as Basketball said above- “It is not sex scandal, it is a LOVE. And LOVE happens in all spheres of job.”
        
        These 2 have infused their personal relationship into their jobs, and its affected many other people and players who were tricked by it. Latvia is playing the worst teams in Europe now in qualifications to fight its way back after last years debacle caused by these 2 and their irresponsible actions. Latvia should have been in the Olympics instead of qualifying, better players were kicked out for talking about the scandal or “love” and it hurt the team, because even though the public had no idea, the girls on the team knew- one was a 1/2 who was beating Babkina daily, and badly- even admitted by the director of the NT. The rest of the team was in tears for having to watch Babkina stay on the floor and start every game no matter how poorly she played.
        
        This continued in Fener, when Vardarli was a much better 1, she was benched so Babkina could play- and the lost- that powerhouse of a roster should have been 1st or 2nd, even when Penny Taylor was hurt. Rivas Ecopolis with its own weak PG, Anna Cruz, beat potentially best or second best roster in ELW because Babkina received her minutes that earned in bed.
        
        You’re right that its about basketball, and its a shame that Diks put their personal lives on the floor, and so now, its an open book and a story that people want to know what happened and to understand the reasons why its there…
    - basketball
      
      Mr. Edgars those words, that you wrote, are telling us what kind of person you are. And for me it seems that you love Babkina and that you are jealous on Dikoudis. Neither management of Latvian Team nor management of Fenerbahche is stupid and if you said they didn’t know about them, that is the funniest thing that I ever heard. From your story it seems that Babkina is so powerful to trick everybody and that under her power are Latvian Federation and management of Fenerbahche.
      - Edgars
        
        No, Babkina didn’t trick LBS, or Fener- she’s a basically innocent and not so bright little girl. This was the work of Diks, who as all in the north know, is from a country that shows praise for any citizen who brings home a blond trophy.
        
        Diks scammed and lied his way into the LV NT job, as did his assistant who made claims of being an NBA scout, which was later proven as a lie. Martinez was a wing man who helped to cover up the relationship of Diks and Babkina. I heard the story about the Fener boss (Didem possibly?) being assured that the rumor was not true by the agent- that was second hand. I know first hand that Maris Jucmanis as director of LV NT was fooled, by the way of emails and personal discussions. He admitted that the relationship existed only in October of 2011.
        
        Have you ever seen a Diks practice in action? With assistance from Martinez? Its not a professional atmosphere, but it is only women that he can fool, no male player would allow him to stay as a coach.
        
        This fortunately leads back to the subject of the story, which is the downfall of womens basketball and the poor treatment which borders on abuse of young players. If someone wants to speak more of Diks and his problems which will surely grow in the near future, please start a thread about it….
      - Pepe Matanza
        
        well, after i saw that fener signed Iniguez, I started to doubt on their decissions.After Yilmaz left, they will have serious problems in Turkish league.
        Maybe we can start betting here for how long he will stay there :)
        As for Babkina, she signed in Trgoviste so if Borega bring his wife back to the team and Babkina will play on pos.2, than we will have some serious drama…
Edgars

“As for Babkina, she signed in Trgoviste so if Borega bring his wife back to the team and Babkina will play on pos.2, than we will have some serious drama…”

Babkina can’t score enough to carry the points load a team requires from the 2. She’s also very small, and if a 2 covering her is 182 or taller, she can’t see, and she can only drive right- cut her right foot off and her right dribble, and she’s very easily frustrated, and will be back crying to Pappa Diks…

She’s also slow for a guard- her foot speed just isn’t there.