DRAGAN KICANOVIC - 101 Greats of European Basketball
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Dragan<br />
Kicanovic<br />
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The Cacak genius<br />
Probably the last thing that Zeljko Obradovic<br />
and Vladimir Androic thought about<br />
in the mid-1970s, when over a four-year<br />
period they shared rooms on road trips<br />
as Borac Cacak players, was that one day<br />
they would coach against each other in the<br />
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Androic and Obradovic<br />
are much more than two former teammates from a<br />
humble team. They are close friends and best men<br />
at each other’s weddings, a relationship that is very<br />
important to Serbian people. Behind many technical<br />
decisions made by Obradovic, there has been a<br />
lot <strong>of</strong> advice sought from Androic. They have spent<br />
summers together and engaged in long talks about<br />
basketball.<br />
The matchups in the 2011-12 EuroLeague between<br />
these two men from Cacak – Obradovic on the Panathinaikos<br />
bench and Androic on that <strong>of</strong> KK Zagreb – brought<br />
to mind a true genius <strong>of</strong> the game who was born in the<br />
same city and was also very important in the life <strong>of</strong> Obradovic.<br />
That is none other than Dragan “Kicha” Kicanovic.<br />
To me, he is one <strong>of</strong> the best three players from the<br />
former Yugoslavia that I have ever seen – the other two<br />
being Kresimir Cosic and Drazen Petrovic.<br />
Kicha and Mirza, Gorizia 1971<br />
Kicanovic was born on August 17, 1953, but before<br />
him, Cacak had another huge star, scoring ace Radmilo<br />
Misovic. His fame never crossed many borders, however,<br />
because Misovic, due to his character, always stayed<br />
close to home, close to Cacak. He liked to go fishing in<br />
the Morava River and keep his quiet life rather than sign<br />
for a big team in Belgrade or elsewhere. Misovic was<br />
the Yugoslav League’s top scorer five times: 1968 (29.2<br />
ppg.), 1969 (28.4), 1971 (29.3), 1972 (30.0) and 1974<br />
(31.7). He played in Borac while Kicanovic started with<br />
the other team from the city, the smaller and humbler<br />
Zeleznicar. Like a diamond in the rough, Kicanovic was<br />
selected by cadet national team coach Mirko Novosel<br />
for the first U16 <strong>European</strong> Championship, played in<br />
1971 in Gorizia, Italy. Along with him, the team had<br />
other future stars, like Mirza Delibasic, Rajko Zizic and<br />
Dragan Todoric. Yugoslavia became champion by defeating<br />
Italy in the final 74-60. It was the first trophy<br />
for Kicha. He finished as the team’s second-best scorer<br />
with 90 points, behind only his friend Delibasic, with 99.<br />
That same year, not yet <strong>of</strong> legal age and still a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> a second-division team, Kicanovic made his debut<br />
on the senior national team at the Mediterranean<br />
Games in Izmir, Turkey. He played alongside world<br />
champions like Damir Solman and Vinko Jelovac, as<br />
well as with other future staples <strong>of</strong> the national team<br />
Zarko Knezevic, Milun Marovic, Miroljub Damjanovic<br />
and Dragi Ivkovic. Kicanovic scored his first 40 points<br />
for the national team and won his second gold medal.<br />
All the big teams wanted to sign him, but in Cacak<br />
they managed to put Misovic and Kicanovic together.<br />
“Kicha” signed for Borac and the 1971-72 season stays<br />
in my memory because <strong>of</strong> the brilliant displays by<br />
those two geniuses: one was a veteran, the other was<br />
just starting his brilliant career. In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1972,<br />
Kicanovic’s age group played the fifth U18 <strong>European</strong><br />
Championship in Zadar, another symbolic city for basketball.<br />
Novosel was the coach <strong>of</strong> that team and – together<br />
with Kicha, Mirza, Zizic and Todoric – new names<br />
came on board: Zeljko Jerkov, Branko Macura and<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dragan Kicanovic<br />
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Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Cedomir Perincic. The results were seven wins in seven<br />
games and a gold medal. Delibasic had 114 points, Kicanovic<br />
90, Perincic 68.<br />
Kicha and Praja in Belgrade<br />
When landing in Partizan, Kicanovic was greeted by<br />
Ranko Zeravica, the former coach <strong>of</strong> the national team<br />
and the best pupil <strong>of</strong> the famous Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Aleksandar<br />
Nikolic. One year earlier, in 1971, Zeravica had managed<br />
to sign Drazen Dalipagic, who had played football until<br />
he was 15. Dalipagic’s nickname, Praja, came from a local<br />
defensive player <strong>of</strong> the football team in Velez. That’s<br />
how, in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1972, the best duo on the court<br />
that I have probably ever seen, Kicha and Praja, was<br />
born. They were never close friends. There was always<br />
some kind <strong>of</strong> rivalry issue between them. But as the two<br />
smart men that they were, they connected instantly on<br />
the court. Simply put, they needed each other.<br />
Dalipagic was a strong forward, great shooter and<br />
spectacular jumper. Kicanovic was a super-smart guard<br />
who could play at point for the full 40 minutes. He was<br />
unstoppable in one-on-one situations and had great<br />
court vision and shooting. There was no Partizan game<br />
without some spectacular alley-oops by Dalipagic from<br />
Kicanovic’s assists. They were the two idols who helped<br />
Partizan win their first Yugoslav League title in 1976.<br />
But they helped the national team even more. When<br />
Mirko Novosel took the reins <strong>of</strong> the team for the 1973<br />
EuroBasket in Barcelona, Spain, he called up several<br />
young players. Of course, Kicanovic was among them.<br />
So were Dalipagic and Zoran “Moka” Slavnic, who made<br />
his debut at 24 years old. With the added experience<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cosic, Rato Tvrdic, Nikola Plecas and Damir Solman,<br />
Yugoslavia won its first <strong>European</strong> title. The following<br />
year, Yugoslavia was second at the World Cup in Puerto<br />
Rico. Kicanovic was the best player and best scorer on<br />
the team with 139 points (19.9 per game), including 34<br />
against Canada and 26 against the USA.<br />
Kicha was a complete player, technically perfect. But<br />
what makes the difference between a great talent and a<br />
great player is the character. Kicanovic was a born winner<br />
and a fighter; he didn’t like to lose at anything. He<br />
had strong character and was willing to fight for victory,<br />
no matter the circumstances. He didn’t fear hostile<br />
atmospheres, either. His winning character could be<br />
seen at the EuroBasket 1975 final at the legendary Pionir<br />
Arena in Belgrade. The game was against the USSR<br />
and after 39 tight minutes, Yugoslavia led 86-84. The<br />
ball reached Kicha, who drove past, if memory serves,<br />
Aleksander Salnikov. He pulled up and with his perfect<br />
shot decided the game with his 22nd point <strong>of</strong> the night.<br />
At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Kicanovic won the<br />
silver medal. In 1977 he made it a three-peat with Yugoslavia<br />
by winning the EuroBasket final in Liege against<br />
the USSR. That game featured a famous “volleyball”<br />
passing scene between Kicha and Slavnic, in which they<br />
tapped the ball back and forth to each other a few times<br />
without either actually catching or holding it, to fool the<br />
defense. In the 1978 World Cup in Manila, he and Dalipagic<br />
led Yugoslavia to another title. Praja finished with<br />
an average <strong>of</strong> 22.2 points and Kicha with 18.2.<br />
At the club level, after winning its first Yugoslav<br />
League title in 1976, Partizan also took its first <strong>European</strong><br />
trophy on March 21, 1978, after an unforgettable Korac<br />
Cup final in Banja Luka against Bosna Sarajevo. The game<br />
ended 117-110 after overtime. The end <strong>of</strong> regulation time<br />
showed a <strong>101</strong>-<strong>101</strong> score. It was an <strong>of</strong>fensive festival,<br />
with 48 points by Dalipagic, 33 by Kicanovic and 21 by<br />
Misko Maric. For Bosna, Mirza Delibasic had 33 points,<br />
Zarko Varajic 22, Ratko Radovanovic 20 and Svetislav<br />
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Pesic 14. That season Bosna won the domestic league<br />
and the following year it took the EuroLeague crown. In<br />
1979, Partizan also won the Korac Cup, defeating Arrigoni<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italy 109-98 in the final played at Pionir Arena. The<br />
hero was, <strong>of</strong> course, Kicanovic, who scored 41 points<br />
despite playing injured and covering for the also-injured<br />
Dalipagic. Pionir gave a standing ovation to Kicha for a<br />
great win against a great rival, led by the American duo<br />
<strong>of</strong> Cliff Meely (30 points) and Willie Sojourner (29), alongside<br />
Roberto Brunamonti (12 points).<br />
Olympic champion<br />
At the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, without no U.S.<br />
team, Yugoslavia won the gold medal with Kicanovic<br />
and Dalipagic as leaders. In 1981 and 1982, Gazzetta<br />
dello Sport <strong>of</strong> Italy elected Kicha as the player <strong>of</strong> the<br />
year in its prestigious survey. In 1981, he won the Yugoslav<br />
League with Partizan and the silver medal with<br />
the national team at EuroBasket in Prague. When the<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 1981 arrived, Kicanovic accepted the call<br />
from Petar Skansi, an assistant to Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Nikolic<br />
with the national team in 1978 in Manila and the head<br />
coach at the 1979 EuroBasket. As a result, Kicanovic<br />
joined Scavolini Pesaro in Italy, a team that also signed<br />
his national teammate Zeljko Jerkov. He played two<br />
seasons there, averaging 23.4 points, 3.4 assists and<br />
2.8 rebounds in 72 Italian League games. At the 1982<br />
World Cup in Colombia, Kicanovic won the bronze medal.<br />
He then won the Saporta Cup with Scavolini against<br />
ASVEL in a 111-99 final, scoring 31.<br />
That same year, after a seventh-place finish for<br />
Yugoslavia at the EuroBasket in France, and a big fight<br />
with Italy, Kicanovic decided to leave that country. He<br />
signed for Racing Paris, but in the spring <strong>of</strong> 1984, at 30<br />
years and 8 months old, he decided to retire. It was a<br />
shame because he could have surely played well for<br />
longer, but it was a personal choice. Behind him, he left<br />
216 games with the Yugoslav national team and 3,330<br />
points (which ranked second after Dalipagic, with 3,700,<br />
although Kicanovic player fewer years. He collected 10<br />
medals – five gold, three silver and two bronze – with<br />
the national team. At Partizan, he played 167 games<br />
and scored 4,699 points (28.1 ppg.).<br />
After retiring, Kicanovic was the sports director<br />
at Partizan, where his masterpiece was the <strong>European</strong><br />
crown <strong>of</strong> 1992. To reach that goal he worked hard for<br />
many years and signed players like Vlade Divac, Zarko<br />
Paspalj, Goran Grbovic, Ivo Nakic and Zeljko Rebraca. He<br />
had the patience to nurture the talents <strong>of</strong> Djordjevic and<br />
Predrag Danilovic. He convinced his friend Zeljko Obradovic<br />
to put an end to his playing career at 31 years old<br />
and become a head coach almost overnight. As in the<br />
game itself, Kicha had great vision. In his life after basketball,<br />
during a brief stint, he was Minister <strong>of</strong> Sports in Serbia<br />
and for eight years was the president <strong>of</strong> the Serbian<br />
Olympic committee. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall<br />
<strong>of</strong> Fame and deserves to be in the one in Springfield, too,<br />
where Dalipagic, his great teammate for Partizan and the<br />
Yugoslav national team, already is.<br />
On a personal note, it remains a regret <strong>of</strong> mine that<br />
Dragan Kicanovic was not included in the list <strong>of</strong> 35 players<br />
that were recognized by Euroleague <strong>Basketball</strong> to<br />
celebrate the competition’s 50th anniversary. The jury<br />
was more than qualified, but the genius <strong>of</strong> Kicanovic<br />
escaped their decision. It’s true that he didn’t win any<br />
EuroLeague titles, that he didn’t play for any big teams<br />
in Europe, and that he retired young. But he was one <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Greats</strong>, with a capital G.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Dragan Kicanovic<br />
K