Even with the Fiba Americas tournament over and done with, the drama continues for the Brazilian National team.

Brazil went into the tournament with high-hopes and the second-most talented roster. Mid-tournament, they revolted against head coach Lula, refusing to listen to his directions for the remainder of the tournament. Brazil eventually finished in fourth place, losing twice to both third-place Puerto Rico and second-place Argentina, thus failing to secure a spot in the 2008 Olympics.

Then on Saturday, legendary Brazilian basketball player Oscar Schmidt added more fuel to the fire by criticizing the performance and dedication of Brazilian NBA players Nene and tournament leading-scorer Leandro Barbosa.

“Nene should have worked harder,” Oscar told a local channel, “He stayed around in Rio during the Pan American Games only to gain weight. The same thing happened with Leandro.”

I wonder why Oscar picked on those two specifically? I could see why he would criticize Nene; he has always had this lackadaisical way about him and always seems to be getting injured (which may be related to his being out of shape). However, it seemed that Barbosa played hard throughout the tournament. If anyone should have been criticized, it was Anderson Varejao for not even showing up. We give Nene some credit for coming back to the team after vowing not to play for the National Team anymore last year…

We think Mao Santa was just trying to light a fire under the two leaders of the team.