Tag: oscar schmidt

LeBron James reaches big Olympic career scoring milestone

LeBron James continues to add to his overall basketball resume and legacy.

Team USA men’s basketball is inching toward a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. It easily defeated South Sudan on Wednesday after barely defeating it in an exhibition game earlier this month, and the concerns about Team USA are slowly dissolving.

LeBron James had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists in Wednesday’s contest, and he is continuing to prove that even at age 39, he is still a legitimately elite basketball player.

In Wednesday’s contest, James, who already owns two Olympic gold medals, as well as a bronze medal, reached a career scoring milestone. He joined Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony as the only players in Team USA men’s basketball history to attain 300 points in the Olympics.

Durant, of course, is one of James’ teammates on this iteration of Team USA.

Both have a long way to go before they can match or exceed the all-time record for most points scored in Olympic men’s basketball competition by any player. That mark is held by Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt, who totaled 1,093 points throughout the 1980s and 1990s in five Olympic games.

It is a virtual certainty that this will be James’ last go-around in the Olympics as a player.

LeBron James surpassed Oscar Schmidt to become world’s all-time scoring leader

Although many Americans may not have noticed it, LeBron James became the all-time leading scorer in world basketball history this week.

Last season, LeBron James moved past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. The moment took place in a February game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder, and Abdul-Jabbar was on hand to graciously commemorate the accomplishment.

It was seen as the Holy Grail of individual basketball accomplishments, and those who feel James is the greatest basketball player ever saw it as confirmation of that opinion.

On Tuesday, James surpassed Oscar Schmidt to become the world’s all-time leading scorer in the sport of basketball. It went rather unnoticed, especially in the United States, but James is now the leader in that category when one includes regular season and postseason NBA games, All-Star games and his time with USA Basketball.

Schmidt was one of the greatest basketball players who never played in the NBA. A 6-foot-9 forward, he played for a number of teams in Brazil, Italy and Spain, and he also played in five Summer Olympic games while representing his native Brazil.

He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, but he said no to the NBA, not only because he would’ve made less money than he was making at the time with JuveCaserta, but also because it would’ve made him ineligible for the Olympics. At that time, pro basketball players were not allowed to participate in the Olympics.

Schmidt started playing pro ball in 1974 as a 16-year-old, and his pro career lasted all the way until 2003, when he was 45 years of age.

Larry Bird, Ray Allen cited among greatest shooters of all time

In a recent analysis of the second-best shooters ever after Stephen Curry, two Boston Celtics made the cut.

In a recent analysis of the second-best shooters ever after Stephen Curry put together by Hoops Hype’s Frank Urbina, two Boston Celtics made the cut from a fairly broad field of historical sharpshooters.

Urbina drew from a veritable “who’s who” of the best long-distance marksmen to see who wins the silver behind the Hoops Hype analysts’ greatest of all shooters in league history in Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry. Other names besides Larry Bird and Ray Allen included Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, Steve Nash, Kyle Korver, Predrag Stojakovic, Drazen Petrovic, and Oscar Schmidt.

Let’s take a look at some of what Urbina had to say about the Celtics on that list — as well as who he believes is No. 2 on the list of the greatest shooters of all time.

For little Kobe Bryant growing up in …

For little Kobe Bryant growing up in Italy, the player that amazed him as a child was a skinny and half bald Brazilian guard who often beat his father’s teams with long distance shots. Oscar Schmidt, one of basketball’s all-time leading scorers with almost 50,000 points, played with Italian teams between 1982 and 1993. It was there that the son of Joe Bryant started going to courts to watch his father in action and, when possible, take a few shots himself.

”Kobe said he used to call me `La …

”Kobe said he used to call me `La Bomba’ (the bomb in Italian). In Brazil everyone calls me `Holy Hand’ because of my throws, but I liked his nickname for me, too,” said Schmidt, who opted not to play in the NBA despite being drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984. ”I was 26, traveled all the way and the Nets picked me in the 6th round! I told Kobe that was an insult. He agreed,” the Brazilian said.

Schmidt said he never talked to Bryant …

Schmidt said he never talked to Bryant as a child but frequently spotted him in the stands cheering for his father. ”He was a bit annoying to be honest,” Schmidt said fondly. ”He went to every all-star game in Italy, jumped onto the court before the game, at halftime and in the end just to shoot until someone dragged him out. At 7, 8 years of age he would not leave the court unless somebody picked him up. We could definitely see he was going to be a great shooter and a great dribbler, he had that from the start.”