There are many basketball legends that the NBA never got a chance to see. One of those players was Oscar Schmidt
The place is Indianapolis and the time is 1987. Team USA filled with the likes of Danny Manning, David Robinson and Dan Majerle, and yielding an unbeatable run of 34 matches, is ready to face the Brazilian team for the gold medal at the Panamerican games.
Fast forward ninety (or so) minutes later and a soaking Oscar Schmidt had just shocked the basketball world with 46 points (35 in the second half) while leading his national team to victory and earning himself a spot at the hearts of the Brazilian fans.
That was the day the legend of Mão Santa, the Holy Hand, was born.
He was selected in the 1984 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets but was adamant in his belief that Brazil comes before clubs and glory. In a time when NBA players where ineligible to play in international tournaments, he chose to play for the Cariocas.
When asked how good he believed he would prove to be had he played in the NBA, Schmidt replied: “I’ve never met a man who could guard me. I would be top ten. Not in a year – top ten ever”.
If you feel this guy is somewhat cocky, maybe the words of Kobe Bryant, who used to watch him as a child in Italy, will provide more clarity: “No question, he would have been one of the greatest”.
Oscar Schmidt was born in 1958 and grew to be 6-foot-8. Despite his size, he played in the shooting guard and small forward position and his style of play was pretty straightforward – he was the purest of shooters and an all-around scorer.
He retired at the age of 45 in 2003 and he is the all-time leading scorer in basketball, having scored 49,737 points in club and national team play combined. For reference, NBA record holder Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has scored a total of 44,149 points throughout his career (playoffs included). Oscar has been inducted into both the FIBA Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. His career included spells in Italy, Spain and Brazil but his greatest love had always been the Brazilian National team.
” Some people move the piano and some people play the piano.”
Probably his best performance with his country took place in the Olympic Games of 1988 when he averaged 41.9 points per game and led Brazil to 5th place.
European basketball fans will surely remember the 1989 Cup Final between Schmidt’s Snaidero Kazerta and Real Madrid led Drazen Petrovic. The match evolved to a showdown between the two great scorers and Drazen emerged victorious with 62 points while Oscar only had 44.
It is true that Oscar Schmidt lived for basketball. With that, I mean he loved to shoot and score but had little to do with defense and was a mediocre rebounder and blocker for his size. As it usually goes with this type of players, he didn’t really like to share the ball. His response to his critics was legendary: ” Some people move the piano, some people play the piano.”
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A mind blowing statistic regarding his scoring prowess is that during a 20 year span from 1994-2003, he was declared top scorer 16 times in three different leagues. In 2003, long time NBA forward Nene Hilario jokingly claimed that if he was drafted in the first round he would use the money to buy a brazilian club and sign Schmidt.
And then he would order him to only pass the ball.
Schmidt’s life outside basketball is an eventful one. After running for senator in 1998 and coming really close to being elected, he focused on his family and nowadays spends most of his time in Florida. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer tumors three years ago and had to undergo surgery to remove them. He is in chemo pills but otherwise, he lives a normal life.
Fittingly, the person who welcomed him at the Hall of Fame was the player most people at the time thought as his NBA counterpart, Larry Bird.
The Canadian basketball legend Steve Konachalski, coach of the Canadian National team at the time, was once asked about Oscar Schmidt and the possibility of him being an all-time great had he played in the NBA.
"Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki had much better all around game than Oscar. They both were better passers, defenders and rebounders. But they couldn’t shoot with Oscar. No one could shoot with Oscar."
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So, next time you find yourself in a “best shooter ever” kind of talk, where names like Allen, Curry, Miller or Bird keep flying around, you may pause for a minute and consider for a moment, if the greatest of them all even played in the NBA.