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Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (16-2-1958, Natal, Brazil) flies from Brazil to Seville to enter the second promotion of the Spanish Basketball Hall of Fame. Before boarding the plane, he kindly answered a questionnaire of more than 20 questions that AS asked him through audio. The voice of holy hand it is enough to feel his charisma.
why what about holy handOscar?
It’s a curious story. There was a player in Mexico, Arturo Guerrero, who was known as holy hand. We were playing a game against Mexico and there were two commentators, Álvaro José and Juárez Araújo, who, seeing the baskets he was scoring, began to say: “Mexico has its holy hand, but we have ours”. The nickname began to spread and she stuck. And the truth is that it is an honor.
According to statistics, you are the top scorer in basketball history with 49,737 points. He retired at the age of 45. Why didn’t he wait to reach the round and mythical figure of 50,000 points? Did you think about it?
It’s just that I never played to score points. The records came because he played a lot and had a lot of hits. It’s not that I wanted to make the 50,000 points (laughs). I stopped when I had to stop.
What does it mean for you to be in the Hall of Fame of the FEB once you have already stepped on the FIBA and the NBA?
Incredible pride. Just as Sabonis is, I’m already there too. I am very happy and I hope to enjoy when I am there.
It must be spectacular to be in an NBA Hall of Fame without having played there. He gives an idea of the dimension of him as a player. What does he remember from those days in Springfield?
The best thing about there was my daughter. She liked it so much that she always reminds me of it. “What beautiful days were those of the Hall of Fame”, she tells me. She really enjoyed it and it was an amazing thing. I am very grateful that in Spain they have remembered me and have recognized my career.
What has been basketball for you?
Basketball, my wife and my daughters are everything. My family and basketball gave me everything I have. Now I give conferences for companies and I am extremely proud that there are people who go there to hear about my career. Basketball was an incredible thing for me.
“My family and basketball gave me everything I have”
Can you clarify how many shots you took per day?
I’ll tell you I was taking at least 500 shots after every practice, so at least a thousand a day. But one day I thought: after the 500, I’m going to hit 20 triples in a row without fail before I go home. Normally he did it, at the most, to the third. But sometimes it wasn’t that easy (laughs). I remember that one day I spent two hours in the pavilion. He scored 18 in a row and missed one; to start. I scored 17 in a row and failed, let’s start again! LOL. I stayed almost two hours to do the 20 in a row. And then when I did number 20, I kept going to see how far it would go. And I put 90 in a row, without fail. Haha. In the end, this shooting thing also served as an example to my teammates. The truth is that my wife was the same. My wife liked to run and the Caserta pavilion had a platform on top and my wife went running every day, to spin around it. More than once, our coach, Tanjevic, stopped training and said to my teammates: “Do you know who is running up there? Oscar’s wife. On the one hand, he was an example for everyone. But on the other hand, lol. You understand me!
Your first contact with basketball in Spain, before the Forum, was the 1986 World Basketball Championship. What do you remember?
We were fourth. I remember that we eliminated Spain at home. We played the semifinal against the United States. I thought: “We put a little area because they don’t have shooters and this will go well.” And a certain Steve Kerr showed up and hit us six three-pointers in the first half. We were down 26… But we had a good World Cup. We played with the knife between our teeth, we were hungry for glory and we almost reached the podium.
A year later, in 1987, he beat the United States in the Americas tournament in Indianapolis. What do you remember about that match, was it your best day with Brazil?
That win was the best, for sure. No one believed that we could win, nor do we. But we won and we won well. It was a very important victory for Brazil and for world basketball. After this, in the United States it was proposed that professionals begin to play. And in 1992, we played against the Dream Team, the best team I’ve ever seen play basketball. We lost by more than 30, hahaha, but we played well!
Is it true that legend that you did not change your shoes until you lost a game?
Hahaha. It’s true, I only changed my shoes when we lost… Once there was a problem. I think we won more than twenty games in a row and, since I also trained with the same shoes, the shoes began to make holes in the middle. So that was very hard.
“If we won, I didn’t change my shoes; I got to play with holes”
In Spain, that final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, Real Madrid-Snaidero Caserta, in Athens in 1989 is well remembered. What memories do you have of that, what did you think of Petrovic?
Well, from the final… He scored baskets twice to tie the game. I counted the final action on the clock and Gentile had to throw the one plus one (with 102-102, Petrovic lost a ball and in the last attack of the Italians they claimed Biriukov’s foul when colliding with Gentile in an action that, after many discussions , the referees considered that it had occurred out of time). He had never seen, I think, anyone make more than 40 points in a game and he had 63. He was an incredible person and an incredible player. I have great respect for him. If he were alive, I would like to talk to Petrovic about that final.
The Nets tried to sign you three times but you, despite being in the draft, resigned to play for Brazil. What does Brazil represent for you, Oscar?
Playing with Brazil represents everything, it is the most important thing and without definition. The biggest thing I’ve done in my life. So I didn’t miss anything. I was happy. The selection was the most important thing and I verified it during my career. My life was fine. I played in Italy, national team. Why would I risk in the NBA? I was happy with my life.
Petrovic ended up going to the Nets. Curious that they could have shared a team. Did he ever think about it?
I had the chance to play for Madrid with Petrovic. I have a three-year contract signed by Ramón Mendoza here. The owner of Caserta asked me about it and I told him that he had the contract. And he told me, how many years do you have on your contract? I told him three, he gave me four… And I said okay. So Madrid was a possibility. Then, the Valladolid thing was a combination of accounts with the owner of the Pavia team, where I played.
“I was able to play with Petrovic, but in the end Caserta offered me four years and I stayed”
He is part of the select club of players who have been to five Olympic Games along with Andrew Gaze, Navarro… What does that mean for an athlete?
The Games are the most important competition on our planet. I had twice the chance to win a medal. In 1980 (Moscow Games), against Yugoslavia and in 1988 (Seoul), against the USSR. And that’s the worst because I missed the last shot. I weigh much more this opportunity that we had.
Would you encourage Rudy Fernández to reach Paris 2024 to be the first basketball player to reach six Olympic Games?
If he can play six Olympic Games, he has to play them because it is the most important competition. I wish the player to do his best to play because the Games are the most important thing.
Still a Coca-Cola fan?
After my brain tumor operation, I had an aversion to Coca-Cola. Now it’s coming back to me… But you have to control yourself. I liked it better before than now. It’s better that way…
It was also written about you that you did not like giving interviews.
Only before games because it took my energy away. But after the games, the ones that were necessary.
“I didn’t like giving interviews before games because it took away my energy”
What advice do you give to young people now when you give talks?
I tell him to train a lot because I am a product of training. Training is the most important part of any player and any person. If you train a lot, you have the chance to get where you want to be. The work is basic.
What is your opinion of Spanish basketball from a distance?
It is very rich in fundamentals. And very professional. I like it a lot since the Gasols. Gasol is the best Spanish player I’ve seen because he won everything in Europe and in the NBA. And I think he helped in that culture of the game for everyone else who came after him. What a pity that he retired because he was so great…