Miodrag Nikolić

Miodrag Nikolić
Personal information
Born	22 August 1938; Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	17 February 2005 (aged 66)
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Listed weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	1960: undrafted
Playing career	1954–1970
Number	3, 15
Career history
As player:
1954–1957	Radnički Belgrade
1957–1967	OKK Beograd
1967–1968	Altınordu
1968–1970	ITU Istanbul
As coach:
1979–1980	Crvena zvezda (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
	As player: FIBA European Selection (1964); 4× Yugoslav League champion (1958, 1960, 1963, 1964); Turkish League champion (1970); 2× Yugoslav Cup winner (1960, 1962); 2× Turkish Cup winner (1968, 1969);
Men's basketball
Representing Yugoslavia
FIBA World Cup
EuroBasket
Mediterranean Games

Miodrag "Sija" Nikolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодрaг "Сија" Николић; August 22, 1938 – February 17, 2005^[1]) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally.

Playing career

Nikolić played for OKK Beograd, during their so-called, "Golden Era", in the late 1950s, and the first half of the 1960s, in the Yugoslav First League. Some of his teammates were Radivoj Korać, Slobodan Gordić, Bogomir Rajković, Trajko Rajković, and Milorad Erkić. OKK Beograd's head coaches during that time were Borislav Stanković and Aleksandar Nikolić, and the club's Sports Director was Radomir Šaper. In that period, they won four Yugoslav League championships, and two Yugoslav Cups. During the 1965 Yugoslav League season, Nikolić got injured, at a home game against AŠK Olimpija, and he missed the rest of the season.^[2]

After recovering from the injury, Nikolić went to Turkey,^[2] where he played for Altınordu Izmir and ITU Istanbul, in the Turkish Super League.^[3]

Nikolić was a member of the Yugoslavian national basketball team from 1957 to 1964. He played at one FIBA World Cup (1963 in Brazil),^[4] and at four EuroBaskets (1957 in Bulgaria, 1959 in Turkey, 1961 in Yugoslavia, and 1963 in Poland).^[5] He also played at two Summer Olympics (1960 in Rome, and 1964 in Tokyo).^[6] Nikolić won a silver medal at the 1963 FIBA World Championship, as well as a silver medal (1961) and one bronze (1963) at the EuroBasket. He also won a gold medal at the 1959 Mediterranean Games, in Lebanon.

During his coaching career, Nikolić was the head coach of the senior national teams of Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.^[2]