Oscar Schmidt

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958 in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil) is a retired Brazilian basketball player. He is also known as Oscar Schmidt and Oscar Schmidt Bezerra in Spain, where he played for Fórum Valladolid for the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons, and simply Oscar or Mão Santa (Holy Hand) in his homeland. He is considered one of the best players never to have competed in the NBA. At 2.05 m (6'8") and 102 kg (225 lb).

He played in five Olympics, and was the top scorer in three of them. However, he never went past the quarterfinals. In 1980 he played 7 games and scored 169 points for a 24.1 average. He again scored 169 points in 7 games in 1984. His best Olympic performance was the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He scored 338 points for an average of 42.3 points per game. In 1992 he scored 198 points in 8 games, and in 1996 he scored 219 points in 8 games. In 38 career Olympic basketball games, Schmidt scored 1093 points for a record 28.8 points per game average.

He scored 49,703 points in his top-level career, the most ever.^[1]

Schmidt is probably most remembered in the United States for his performance in the gold-medal match of the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. The U.S. team of college players at those games featured two All-Americans in David Robinson (Hall of Famer) and Danny Manning, two Final Four MVPs in Pervis Ellison and Keith Smart, and several other future NBA players. Brazil faced a 68-54 halftime deficit. Schmidt almost single-handedly led Brazil to a stunning comeback, finishing with 46 points in a 120-115 win.

He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, and had several other opportunities to play in the NBA, but declined them all in order to maintain his "amateur" status and continue to play in Brazil's national team (until 1989 NBA players were not allowed to play for national teams). He retired on May 26, 2003.

In 2004, Schmidt started his career in management. He was the CEO of "Telemar Rio de Janeiro", a Brazilian team which played for two years and won the "Campeonato Carioca" (Rio de Janeiro Championship) in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, Schmidt, along with other Brazilian basketball greats such as Paula and Hortência, (another Hall of Famer), led the NLB: Nossa Liga de Basquete ("our basketball league"), an attempted rival to the Brazilian basketball league. However, the league folded a year later.

In 2007, Schmidt said in a interview for a 2007 Rio de Janeiro's Pan American Games program, when asked about Indianapolis 1987 victory over the USA stars, that his kind of game is not a cowardly one as the European style of basketball. Even in other opportunities, he always says that his team liked to play scoring a lot, not controlling the time: "Pass the ball, man! Stop bouncing the ball watching the defensive player in the eyes and pass". And concludes: "We can lose the game, but we lose as a team of men. European basketball is totally coward".

[edit] Clubs

• Palmeiras, Sao Paulo
• Sírio, São Paulo
• Caserta, Italy
• Pavia, Italy
• Forum/Valladolid, Spain
• Corinthians, São Paulo
• Bandeirantes, São Paulo
• Barueri, São Paulo
• Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro

[edit] Words

"Kobe Bryant is greater than Jordan. Plays similar but has a better three points shot. He's the greatest".

"Alexandar Nicolic what? He has created a coward style. Genius was my coach Ari Vidal. He was a genius".

"I have trained to be the best. I wasn't the best player, but have trained for".

[edit] Honours

• All-time best scorer with 49,703 points

[edit] Brazil

• sixth place in Pre-Olympics Tournament in San Juan (Puerto Rico - 1974)
• three times South American champion (Chile - 1977, Brazil - 1983 e Colombia - 1985)
• World Championship's bronze medal (Philipinnes - 1978)
• second place in South American championship (Argentina - 1979 e Uruguay - 1981)
• bronze medal in 1979 Pan-American Games (San Juan - Puerto Rico)
• fourth place in Pre-Olympics Tournament in San Juan (Puerto Rico - 1980)
• fifth place in 1980 Summer Olympics Games (Moscow - CCCP)
• World Championship's eight place (Colombia - 1982)
• champion in American Pre-Olympics Tournament in Sao Paolo (Brazil - 1984)
• ninth place in 1984 Summer Olympics Games (Los Angeles - USA)
• World Championship's fourth place (Spain - 1986)
• gold medal in 1987 Pan-American Games (Indianapolis - USA)
• champion in American Pre-Olympics Tournament in Montevideo (Uruguay - 1988)
• fifth place in 1988 Summer Olympics Games (Seoul - South Korea)
• bronze medal in America's Cup (Mexico - 1989)
• World Championship's fifth place (Argentina - 1990)
• bronze medal in Pre-Olympics Tournamente in Portland (USA - 1992)
• fifth place in 1992 Summer Olympics (Barcelona - Spain)
• bronze medal in American Pre-Olympics Tournament in Buenos Aires (Argentina - 1996)
• sixth place in 1996 Summer Olympics in (Atlanta - USA)

[edit] Clubs

• World Championship (Sírio - 1979)
• South American League (Sírio - 1979)
• Brazilian Championship (Palmeiras - 1977; Sírio - 1979 and Corinthians - 1996)
• Sao Paolo Championship (Sírio - 1979, 1980; Palmeiras - 1974 and Mackenzie - 1998)
• Italian Cup (Caserta - 1988)
• Italian Championship Serie A-2 (Caserta - 1983 and Pavia - 1991)
• Rio de Janeiro Championship (Flamengo - 1999,2002)
• second place in Brazilian Championship (Flamengo - 2000)
• second place in South American League (Corinthians - 1996,1997).

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official Site (Portuguese)
• Profile at interbasket.com
• Profile at the Brazilian Basketball Federation (Portuguese)