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Oscar Schmidt, Brasil
Name:
Oscar Schmidt, the long-range shooter who led
Brazil to a historic win over the United States in the 1987 Pan American Games,
announced his retirement on Monday in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. "The time has come
to say goodbye to the thing I love most in my life: basketball," the 45-year-old
forward said at a tearful news conference. "I'd like to play forever." It almost
seems he has. Known to generations of sports fans simply as Oscar, he leaves the
court after a 26-year career with a handful of achievements that might never be
surpassed. By an unofficial count, Schmidt has scored 49,703 points in a career
with various clubs and with Brazil's national team. By contrast, NBA scoring
leader Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points in his pro career. Schmidt also played
in a record five Olympics and was top scorer in three of them, finishing with
1,093 points. But his greatest moment was in Brazil's stunning 120-115 victory
at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis that snapped a 34-game winning streak of
the U.S. men's basketball team in the Pan Am Games.
Led by Schmidt's 46 points, many from 3-point range, Brazil overcame 68-54 halftime deficit to stun a team that featured David Robinson and Danny Manning. Schmidt played for several clubs in Italy and Brazil but turned down offers to try out for the NBA. His long-range accuracy earned him the nickname "Mao Santa" — Portuguese for "Holy Hand" — although basketball purists sniffed at his run-and-gun game and his inability, or unwillingness, to play defense. During the 1992 Olympics, a reporter asked him why he shot all the time, while his teammates were forced to set screens for him and never got the rock. Nonplussed, Oscar said, "Some people, they play the piano. And some people, they move the piano." |
Name: Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt Nickname: Mão Santa (Holy Hand) Born: February 16, 1958 Status: Retired, May 26, 2003 Origin: Natal, Brazil Height: 6-8/2,05cm Weight: 225lbs/100kg Schools: N/A Drafted: 1984, Sixth Round, 131st pick by the New Jersey Nets Languages: Portuguese, English Website: InterBasket & lancenet.ig.com.br, official site Teams (jersey): Brazilian National Team (14), Forum Valludoud, Interbasket Dream Team (First Team) Ibn Notes: Oscar Schmidt was 6’8 shooting guard best known for his range and lack of conscious while playing in the Italian League. He also thrived in international competition including in 1987 when he scored 46 points for Brazil in an upset of a David Robinson-led American team in the Pan American Games. The New Jersey Nets took him with a sixth round pick in 1984. The Nets spent a number of years trying to convince him to come over to the NBA but Schmidt refused fearing that he would not get a featured role. “I know my limitations, my defects,” he said “but I could never play 10 minutes a game. [The] NBA is great if you are a star. But if not, you get moved around. My friend (Georgi) Glouchkov played a year in Phoenix. He tells me bad stories about [the] NBA. The guards [did not] like him, they don’t pass him the ball. I would not like that. I could not stand that.”
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