I'm a huge admirer of Bernard King, one of the most unstoppable scorers of all time, but I was only interested in the event this year because of the induction of one of my basketball idols, one of the greatest shooters in the history of the game and a scorer on par with the scoring champions of the NBA, the Brazilian great, Oscar Schmidt.
After seeing him dismantle a Team USA led by David Robinson in the 1986 PanAm Games (now called FIBA Americas), leading Brazil to take the gold medal, I wanted to shoot and play like Oscar Schmidt. More than my other basketball shooter idols, more than Larry Bird, Andrew Toney, Pistol Pete Maravich, and Chris Mullin, I wanted to be like Oscar. I wanted to be like Mao Santa (Holy Hand).
He never played in the NBA because of his low draft position and his age. It also didn't help that he didn't play any defense and didn't rebound well for his height, but oh could he shoot and score. He looked so effortless and it was beautiful to watch him work. He didn't have the on-court arrogance of players like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, or even Drazen Petrovich but he also had no conscience whatsoever in dominating the ball and putting up a shot.
Oscar played similarly to Kiki Vandeweghe, the former All-Star NBA player who also played at small forward and was also a shooter with a beautiful effortless touch but who played no defense. Their difference was that Oscar had the confidence of a superstar who felt he could take every shot and make them. He was a player a team could build their whole offense around and this is what his teams did for his entire career.
He never made it to the NBA but he is the all-time leading scorer in the Olympics and he has scored more points than anyone in his entire career. For his accomplishments, for his love of the game, and for showing fans how beautifully the game could be played, my idol, the Holy Hand, Oscar Schmidt, deserves his rightful place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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