Targoviste finalize roster, sign Novosel, Robbins, Nnamaka, Miljkovic

Posted by: Jānis Kacēns 2012-07-19 01:06 in Coaches/Players News, Domestic leagues, EuroLeague Women, Featured

Natalie Novosel photo: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

EuroLeague Women participants from Romania, CSM Targoviste have announced their roster for the upcoming season. Among the signings that haven’t been previously reported are Serbian guard Maja Miljkovic, American guard Natalie Novosel, Swedish guard Chioma Nnamaka and American forward Jillian Robbins.

Miljkovic started last season with Partizan Galenika in Serbia, but finished it with Tarbes GB in France. With Tarbes she averaged 7.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in EuroLeague Women and 4.5 points, 1.4 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game in French LFB.Natalie Novosel graduated from Notre Dame this spring and was drafted 8th overall by the Washington Mystics. So far this season, coming of the bench she has averaged 3.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per game.

Chioma Nnamaka started last season with Gorzow in Poland, where she played until the New Year break. She finished the season in Sweden with Sallen, averaging 12.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Jillian Robbins had a successful season in Turkey with Samsun, where she averaged 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in Turkish league.

Final roster for Targoviste appears to be as follows: Elina Babkina, Maja Miljkovic, Ancuta Stoenescu, Romina Filip, Natalie Novosel, Chioma Nnamaka, Gabriela Marginean, Claudia Pop, Olga Vorobyeva, Jillian Robbins, Ksenia Tikhonenko, Andreea Hutanu, Florina Pascalau, Ivanka Matic.

Tagged with: Ancuta Stoenescu Chioma Nnamaka CSM Targoviste Elina Babkina Florina Pascalau Gabriela Marginean Ivanka Matic Jillian Robbins Ksenia Tikhonenko Maja Miljkovic Natalie Novosel Romania

Edgars

With this low level roster, and being guided by Dikloflos, this team won’t win a game in ELW. When you combine the drama and antics caused by the love affair of Diks and Babkina and how it pulls a team down, this roster will be broken down and changed by Christmas at the latest.
basketball

Almost all players from one agent. Very interesting.
Edgars

This all from one agent happens alot with inexperienced management. The coach will say he wants this player and that player and that he needs his roster set up like he wants to be able to win, but in fact, they usually get kickbacks from the agents involved for sourcing all the players from him.

Diks has zero moral character, so this type action to rip off the team and get paid on the back end from an agent, wouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen him in action.

With that roster, no Angel, no Penny, no Zane, no Yilmaz, we’ll get to see just how bad of a coach he is. They’ll be out quickly…
Pepe Matanza

They are not the only team in euroleague who got players from only one agent…but half of those plazers are joke…we will see how it will develop and how the team will react when Babi will shoot 20+ balls per game…
Rick

Pepe Matanza we all here know that you are jelous guy so please if you don`t have any smart comments,please be quit!You said for Serbia same thing 2 months ago and what now,they going to France…Shut up PLEASE
Pepe Matanza

OK.Lets talk in the end of the season and we will see if I was right or wrong.
Would be nice to see you making some comment here.I guess you have your oppinion about something.
- Rick
  
  Why you don`t say something about UMMC?They put milions last 4-5 years and what?Nothing,according to you they all who play in UMMC last years are bad players?!!?!
  - Pepe Matanza
    
    Its really far from that but this is news about Trgoviste, not UMMC.
    But if you want to hear my oppinion here it is:UMMC- that is the worst team management in history of Euroleague. Each year they bring big names but they dont bring serious coach who can control those egos. That was the main problem and the main reason why they didnt win Euroleague past years. Now they have Taurasi and Bird and they are lucky that Parker will not play Euroleague for them(good player but…). Im just not sure that Kobryn is the right center for them as European. With Dominguez they will solve problem they had in past years that they didnt have real PG until Bird arrive cause Nolan is more SG than PG(again,thats my oppinion).
    Regarding Fener-Teylor got injuried so she could not cary them to win Euroleague.Bad thing about Fener is that they dont have good enough Turkish players(except Vardarli).
    I agree that this is a team sport and u must make good chemistry in the team(Sopron few years ago was great example) and put all those big egos to work together. But again, team is not enough if you dont have good enough players. Only Salamanca showed different few years ago (but again, they had some really good players but their budget was much much less than spartak or ummc).
    Regarding Trgoviste-I think they will advance from the group and Im happy to see some new teams coming and investing and my point is just that they could make better team with the budget they have. And as Edgars said, there will be problems in the team if Babkina will be “untouchable”.
follower

We will see, Edgards, Targoviste are also in the hardest group of the EuroLeague. And one more question, are you also Pepe Matanza?
- Pepe Matanza
  
  You can see my comment about Euroleague in some of the earlier articles and I gave a chance to Trgoviste to advance.Not because they are strong team but because Arras and Sopron will not be stronger than them.
  I still think Trgoviste will pass the group but I think that with the money they invested, they could make stronger team. But that usualy happen to the teams that are new in euroleague and their managemet does not have big knowledge…just remember what happened to Trgoviste few years ago when Tina Thompson was there…and they made a team to win Fiba cup.
  Im not Edgars and I guess, he is not me :)
  - follower
    
    Pepe, don`t be so sure they advance. Sopron already having experience and why should be Arras so underrated. Can you tell me Arras` transfers? If they managed to transfer somebody they will be dangerous if they only kept the roster minus Marginean they will be on the last place. And by the way, why all the people think CSM Targoviste have such big budget? I don`t think it is bigger than 1.2-1.3 million of euros because they count mainly on municipality and the rest are sponsors. For women`s EuroLeague you need to guarantee 750k and the rest are other costs.
  - Edgars
    
    They signed the players that Babkinas agent had, so that Diks can profit from the signings in one way or another. This agency has provided all the players for this team, and Babkina will be placed in a higher light in the press that this agent can affect, to pay back Diks. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
CSM Targoviste

i am pretty much convinced Targoviste will advance.at Arras,Gabriela Marginean was the best player and if Sopron will not problems CSM former MCM will go through.
- Edgars
  
  If you sign up as CSM Targoviste, and you speak about your own teams chances, its biased to say the least. If you like your team, you’ll question why you’re being led by a PG with nothing to show but turnover to assist ratio of 5 to 1 in last ELW games.
karafasan

Ivanka Matic again in the EL ? :DDD
Edgars

Arras didn’t play Euroleague teams every week. She isn’t able to carry that team anyway, not that she’s bad, but she’s not great. Babkina will destroy the emotions and team spirit, just like she does everywhere. Ask Monica Wright who was in Lotos, ask Penny Taylor about her opinion of why Babkina was in Fener and why she was on the floor. Go ask the coach why she didn’t play in Challes 3 seasons ago- because she’s not playing minutes anywhere unless Diks is there to protect her.

In the Latvian NT, the team had the start and the caliber to be in the Olympics, just as they were in Beijing, but Diks and Babkina made that a total mess. Whole team was frustrated and in tears because they were forced to play with that terrible turnover leader of all Eurobasket 2011. If she throws 9 turnovers in a game, why does she still start? Sex and basketball teamwork aren’t a good recipe.

Diks is a horrible coach.
- Rick
  
  Parker is great,did she carry UMMC somewhere?Taylor is great did she carry Fener to win euroleague,Folwes is great and what?You don`t have to be great to win and achiv.something,basketball is not tenis this is team sport…people
Edgars

Many problems arise with municipalities when they finance a team. The residents and voters will be up in arms about the way that Diks uses a team to promote his “little Babucis” into her dream of playing basketball in Euroleague. This will be hammered into points by the party who lost the election in Targoviste, and they’ve been sent all the necessary proof that these antics are longstanding in other teams. Many fans wrote letters to the management of Fener saying that wouldn’t support the team because they knew why Babkina was in her place there, without having the skills or experience to play there.

Politics will prevent the elected mayor to give so much support, the parties that are divided will jump on them, they have press allies who have been given the papers from the Latvija Federation that admit that they found it proven that Diks was having seks relations with his point guard and that it damaged the team.

After all this, the local players will be embarrassed to be associated with this little scam, and will start to talk, will stand up, the americans will also stand against it, and the game will be over. In USA, a coach was just charged and jailed in South Florida for having seks with a player, because its immoral to the teams ethics on any level. Pokey Chatman lost a job because she was seksing with one player. In most of Europe, this is not allowed, but in the east, they didn’t see it- Latvija was fooled, and now Romanian team will learn why its not allowed as well.
- follower
  
  What about the relationship between Loke and Bohn? In women`s handball? Do you think Europe is US? Not even in West.
- Steve Costalas
  
  I am not going to comment on all this Targoviste / Dikeoulakos “mud” which you so easily are throwing. If you really believe that all that you write is the actual truth then you should use your real name and have all your personal info available so that if one feels you are wrong they can do what they legally have the right to do. What you are doing is actual what some people in black hoods were doing during the Nazi years in the Balkans.
  But I am going to protect the reputation of my Head Coach. Pokey Chatman was accused and fired by LSU but when she sued LSU and since the University could not prove any wrong doing Pokey won the case and received a hefty amount.
  You see mud is easy to throw especially when one is a coward and hides behind fake names…. So take off the black mask and let everybody know who you are except this “love” of yours for basketball is personally and financially motivated…
Edgars

I’m not an expert on the Chatman case, don’t claim to be one. She was probably doing what she was fired for, and the girl she was with wouldn’t testify against her, and she got a settlement. LSU has a private jet to shuttle players around, do you think they mind paying her a nuisance fee?

She can do what she wants, sleep with who she wants, live her lifestyle. No one will disagree with that.

If any coach is sleeping with a player, especially a playmaker, one who gets to shoot as much as she wants, with no accuracy, and passes weakly and poorly, as much as she wants, and sets records for turnovers, with total impunity, its bad basketball. This has shown itself on several teams. Its not bad to be in love, but to affect a teams chances to win, to advance, to succeed? Not good basketball.

If anyone doubts these facts, they’re blind. They’ve unsuccessfully tried to hide this.
- Steve Costalas
  
  You are such a know it all… While you start by saying you are not an expert on this case you say that LSU was probably correct in it’s claim. The accusation was made by an assistant coach, who was fired earlier in the season for incompetence, and what was great was that this person never mentioned any name of the person which supposedly was in a relationsip with Pokey. She was hoping to get her job back whereas LSU was about to loose Pokey to a competitive university and that is why it used the testimony of a lazy liar to throw mud to a great coach and an incredible person. Just like you are doing…
  Bottom line: throughout the years various coaches or presidents have had or are even having relationships with a player of theirs and if it is open and it does not create nepotism then it has not been a negative factor. I few years ago we had an assistant coach in a serious personal relationship with our star center and that did not cause any problem to our team… They were professionals on court and that is all that matters.
  - Pepe Matanza
    
    There were many cases in the past players and coach in relationship.In those man-woman relationship, it never worked well.
    Its free world and people can do whatever they want to do. Babkina and George didnt work in Fener…maybe it will work in Trgoviste.
    Looking at the conception of their team, seem to me that Babkina will play SG(short guard) and not PG…
    - Edgars
      
      Thats gonna be funny, because she can’t shoot. She’s also so small that she can be easily defended, and stopped, and she doesn’t possess any functional foot speed.
      
      Then there is the case that Latvija Federation is trying to have her suspended for 6 months because she refused to come to NT. The director, Jucmanis, is the brother in law of the guy who Babkina was cheating on when she started up with Diks in Poland. Was pretty embarrassing for their whole family, that Diks was shaking this poor guys hand while bedding his girlfriend when he came to visit, so there is a lot of pressure to have FIBA suspend her license for first 6 months of season.
      
      Most of this problem comes as you said from the relationship, which they do a bad job of hiding. When players are benched so his little Babucis can get minutes she doesn’t deserve, they get angry. He’s really not a good coach anyway- you’ll see that when he takes his so-so roster against ELW. The Romanian press is being alerted to the soap opera of Diks, who left his wife for Babucis, so the yellow press will be on them like flies on poop. This will be an interesting season for this traveling circus.
Steve Costalas

You are such a know it all… While you start by saying you are not an expert on this case you say that LSU was probably correct in it’s claim. The accusation was made by an assistant coach, who was fired earlier in the season for incompetence, and what was great was that this person never mentioned any name of the person which supposedly was in a relationsip with Pokey. She was hoping to get her job back whereas LSU was about to loose Pokey to a competitive university and that is why it used the testimony of a lazy liar to throw mud to a great coach and an incredible person. Just like you are doing…
Bottom line: throughout the years various coaches or presidents have had or are even having relationships with a player of theirs and if it is open and it does not create nepotism then it has not been a negative factor. I few years ago we had an assistant coach in a serious personal relationship with our star center and that did not cause any problem to our team… They were professionals on court and that is all that matters.
Please do not attack any player or staff member of our team without proof because I will do my best to make sure that they are protected.
Edgars

Steve, I don’t care about Pokey and her situation, I mentioned the firing because it showed a lack of tolerance for what Diks is doing to all the teams he passes through in the secret relationship with Babkina. If Pokey was not involved, that makes my case even stronger- even the mention of a relationship is inappropriate. It causes too much trouble and in this case, from Latvija 2010, to Lotos, to Latvija 2011, to Fener, and now to Targoviste, the pattern for destruction is there and its fact, not speculation. Its not about Pokey Chatman.

The proper thing to do in the case of Diks and Babucis, is for one to withdraw from the team. This didn’t happen in the Latvija NT, and the other players paid the price. I know its going on all the time, behind closed doors and in the open, but what you need to look at is how it affects wins and losses. Fener could have advanced with Vardarli, they didn’t need for Babucis to have her minutes- Diks is pushing her into this position, which by her talent, her stature, and her multiple weaknesses, she doesn’t deserve and can’t succeed with.

Babkina was put on the All Euroleague list last season on eurobasket.com. This is a total hoax.

Babkina was drafted by the LA Sparks, who’ve been alerted that it was a scam and have distanced themselves from her. She’ll never see LA except as a tourist.

Babkina was playing on a team of very good players in Latvija NT and was responsible for all the discontent in the team. Other guards who were better, who beat her regularly in practice, were benched and even kicked out so she would have her spotlight. This cost LV the Olympics and EB2013 bid, which they barely qualified for this summer. Its a lot of work to have to go through to make up for Diks propelling his lover to fame.

On Fener, she was hammered constantly by the other guards, and when the final games came, she played more minutes than she should have- its served the people who see this relationship as a negative for teams well- as while Vardarli sat on the bench, Babucis was throwing bad passes and destroying all the hard work the good folks at Fener had fought for. Of course in the end, Diks can blame it on Penny Taylor being hurt, but 5 to 1 turnover to assists is not who you put on for 30 minutes a game when Vardarli has a positive ratio. Talk to Vardarli, or anyone on that team.

Targoviste has taken a lot of good scoring local players, so the Romanian trophy will be theirs again. Diks won’t survive the first round of ELW. And, if he takes away her playing time, Babucis will be off to greener pastures, and will leave him in the dust. Watch and see…