Oscar Schmidt, one of basketball’s all-time leading scorers with almost 50,000 points, played with Italian teams between 1982 and 1993. Joe Bryant played in Italy between 1984 and 1991 after a long NBA career. “It is possible little Kobe was impressed by that, too; it was a major upset at the time,” Schmidt said. “Shooting from long range in Italy in those days was a big thing, basketball there was very physical,“ Schmidt said. “The Kobe I saw as a kid is the Kobe of the 81 points in a single match, of 60 points in his last match.

Source: thestar January 29, 2020 17:15 UTC