Dragan Kićanović

Dragan Kićanović

Shooting guard
Personal information
Born	(1953-08-17) August 17, 1953 Čačak, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight	87 kg (192 lb)
Career information
Pro playing career	1971–1984
Career history
1971–1972	Borac Čačak
1972–1981	Partizan
1981–1983	Victoria Libertas Pesaro (Scavolini)
1983–1984	Paris Basket Racing
Medals Competitor for  Yugoslavia Men's Basketball Olympic Games Silver 1976 Montreal Team Gold 1980 Moscow Team World Championship Silver 1974 Puerto Rico Team Gold 1978 Philippines Team Bronze 1982 Colombia Team European Championships Gold 1973 Spain Team Gold 1975 Yugoslavia Team Gold 1977 Belgium Team Bronze 1979 Italy Team Silver 1981 Czechoslovakia Team Mediterranean Games Gold 1971 Tuns Team Gold 1975 Algiers Team

Dragan Kićanović (Serbian: Драган Кићановић; born August 17, 1953) is a Serbian retired professional basketball player.

A 1.92m (6 ft 3 1/2 in) tall shooting guard, he played in the 70's and 80's and is considered as one of the best European players and scorers of all time, having won both the Mr. Europa and the Euroscar European Player of the Year awards in 1981 and 1982. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. On August 20, 2010, Kićanović was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.^[1] He was named as The best athlete of Yugoslavia in 1982 and the best athlete of the Yugoslavia in 20th century.

Since September 2013, he's been performing the role of consul general at the Serbian consulate in Trieste.^[2]

Club career

During the 70's he played alongside Dražen Dalipagić, thus creating a spectacular duo as members of Partizan Belgrade. In international club competition, Kićanović won 2 consecutive Korać Cup championships with Partizan in 1978 and 1979, scoring 33 (behind Dalipagić's 50) respectively 41 points in the finals. Furthermore, he won a Cup Winner's Cup with Scavolini Pesaro in 1983, in which he again dominated the final with 31 points and 8 assists.^[3] With Partizan Belgrade Kićanović also won 3 Yugoslavian championships (1976, 1979 and 1981) and a Yugoslavian cup (1979).

National team

Kićanović played with the Yugoslavian national basketball team from 1973 to 1983 and he competed at all the major international competitions with them: the European Championship, the FIBA World Championship and the Olympics Basketball Tournament. He won the European Championship three times, winning the 1973 European Championship, 1975 European Championship and 1977 European Championship.

At the Olympics, Kićanović won the silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Basketball Tournament and the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Basketball Tournament.^[4] At the FIBA World Championships, he won the silver medal at the 1974 FIBA World Championship, being selected as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, the gold medal at the 1978 FIBA World Championship, and the bronze at the 1982 FIBA World Championship. He was the top scorer in total points scored of the 1982 World Championship, scoring 190 points. He is one of the leading scorers of all-time in the history of FIBA World Championships, having scored a total of 484 points.

Administrative career

KK Partizan

Shortly after retiring from playing basketball, Kićanović was named vice-president at KK Partizan under the club presidency of Tomislav Jeremić. With the division of tasks it was Kićanović who ran the squad from player personnel decision to coaching acquisitions.

References

External links

• FIBA.com Hall of Fame Candidates
• Fibaeurope.com profile
• Database Olympics Player Profile
• Sports-reference.com Player Profile
• Mr. Europa Winners
• Euroscar Winners

Preceded by Aleksandar Bakočević	President of the Olympic Committee of Yugoslavia 1996 – 2005	Succeeded by Philip Zepter
Awards
Preceded by Borut Petrić	The Best Athlete of Yugoslavia 1982	Succeeded by Dragutin Šurbek
Preceded by Dino Meneghin	Mr. Europa 1981, 1982	Succeeded by Dino Meneghin