Title: For Love of the Game

Date June 2026

by: Doctor dunkenstein

Oscar Schmidt shattered any illusions I had that my basketball career had little or no value.

Oscar Schmidt was a person that shattered my false self-believable illusion that my basketball career was ending, and I wasn’t worth much as a basketball player.  

In June of  1984, while I was working at the Dean Smith – Bill Guthridge Carolina Basketball School, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I got news that I  was drafted by the New Jersey Nets as the 177th pick in the NBA draft.  A few months earlier,  I had played  in front of some Nets scouts and coaches in Jersey City, they told me it was their intention to bring me into the August tryout camp held in Princetown, New Jersey.  They would pay my travel expenses and provide a daily stipend for my participation.  I was under no illusion that I would make the NBA Professional squad at new Jersey.  However, I was informed lots of European scouts would be in attendance and my chance of landing a contract with a European team would be increased if I played well during the Nets camp.  

So, I prepared for August and got myself back into top physical and mental basketball shape.  It wasn’t far to get into shape as I was in excellent snow skiing shape after spending time in the Utah snowy mountains. 

When I arrived at camp, I was ready to play ball.  So were 30 other basketball players on the court during that first day at the New Jersey Nets camp.  I got my first dose of professional basketball in the locker room after that first practice.  An assistant coach walked into the locker room and in front of everyone, handed 10 guys return plane tickets back home.  I was somewhat in shock.  Now the 30 guys were down to 20.  They repeated the same process on day two of the camp.  The number was cut to about 12 players.  I was happy I was still there at camp. 

One other guy who made the cuts and lasted with me until the final camp day was, Oscar Schmidt, a Brazilian basketball player who was playing professionally in Italy at that time, but had come to the Nets camp to get a ‘feel out’  and test the waters for a potential NBA transfer. 

I had no idea how basketball worked in Europe.  Oscar was a well informed high paid experienced professional European and Brazilian player. 

They put Oscar and I on the same teams during the full clock and refereed night games.  I think they knew I would be the guy to set screens for him so he could demonstrate how he shot the basketball every time he touched it, and I wouldn’t complain about his ball hog techniques. 

 After teasing Oscar at breakfast that he should pass me the ball at least once during a game, he said, “no way man, I’m gonna give them 1 point per minute, yes, one point every minute, passing is not why I am here, I am here to show them I can score.  But hey, sit down, I will buy you breakfast.”   Oscar could score points faster than anybody I had ever played with in my life.

 I sat and had breakfast with Oscar Schmidt that day and everyday for the rest of the week,  we played together on the court, I set the screens, he fired up the shots,  and we ate breakfast together everyday.  We also won a lot of games that week.

Oscar became a friend.  He told me to go to Europe before signing a contract that he was 100% sure I would sign onto a team. I would tell him about the contract offers I was receiving.  He told me that the offers being made here in New Jersey were not my full value.  he encouraged me to go after more money.  

Money was the reason Oscar Schmidt did not sign a contract to play in the NBA.  The Nets wanted him to play for about $150,000 US.  Minimum salary was around $100,000 per year at that time.  Oscar was making $250,000 per year to play in Italy.  He was a star and Italian champion.  He didn’t pay tax on his salary in Italy.  All of his living and international travel expenses were covered by the club above and beyond his yearly contract salary.  The US government would take 33% tax off the top.  It just did not make dollars and sense for Oscar to accept a contract for less money from the New Jersey Nets just to say he played in the NBA.   He promised me I would play for a team in Europe

Oscar was correct.  I play basketball professionally for two years in Israel for more money and benefits than anyone offered me in the New Jersey Nets tryout camp. 

We stayed in touch.  I made a good friend.  but I still never taught him how to pass as well as he could shoot basketball. 

Oscar taught me all of these business details over breakfast each morning. In the evenings, I continued to set lots of screens for him to shoot the ball,  he did eventually pass me the ball a few times.  I was grateful for the assist and the professional business advice.  We became friends.

Many years later, I found myself in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, playing for Fluminense, Oscar and I had moved up to dinner dates and coffee in sidewalk cafes for our friendly conversations and stories.  He was a delightfully loveable person who loved playing basketball, as much as I loved playing the game.  

I won a Championship in my years in Brazil with Fluminense,  I shared that Brazilian basketball feat with Oscar, as he too had won a Championship with rival Flamengo.  

A few months ago, I heard the new that Oscar finally lost his 15 year battle with brain cancer.  I was deeply saddened to learn of the news.  

Oscar shattered any illusions that I was at the end of my career.  It was 2012 the last time I saw him, it was many years after my 7 year professional career had ended and his decades life long career came to a stop while playing in Brazil.