#7: Shoutout to all the Celtics fans Bleeding Green in BRAZIL! 🇧🇷

Hey Celtics fans in Brasil! celticslife.com has had 1,502,172 visits from Brazil since we originated in September 2009, which has you at #7 on our most visited list. Thanks so much for all the love you've shown the site these past 10+ years.

Slight hat problem for Lucas Nogueira
at the 2013 NBA Draft

The Boston Celtics have actually had three Brazilian players on their team in the last decade, Fab Melo, Leandro Barbosa, and Vitor Faverani. Barbosa was obviously the most renown of the three and while he came to the Celtics late in his career, the Brazilian Blur was still a joy to have on the Celtics.

Barbosa won the 2006-07 Sixth Man of the Year award on the Phoenix Suns where he spent most of his career as instant offense off the bench. Barbosa would finally win an elusive championship on the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. Barbosa's 2012-13 campaign on the Celtics was actually his least successful one. Barbosa unfortunately only played in 41 games due to a torn ACL in January and averaged just 12.5 mpg (a career low) for the season.

Neither Fab Melo or Vitor Faverani were able to stick as big men for the Celtics. Melo put up some monster number for the Red Claws, but it didn't translate to NBA minutes or success. Faverani had his moments early in his one and only season with the Celtics, but then fell out of the rotation. Melo tragically passed away at the very young age of 26.

Technically the Celtics have had four Brazilians. They drafted Lucas Nogueira in 2013, but it was with the intent to trade him to the Atlanta Hawks.

The first time I saw that Brazilians took their basketball seriously was when I saw Oscar Schmidt and Brazil's national team play Team USA. Schmidt was like the Michael Jordan of their team.

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt is a former Brazilian basketball player who spent his entire career with some of the top basketball leagues in Europe and South America. A prodigious scorer in his own right, he is the unofficial leader for total points scored in the history of basketball with 49,737 career points to his name.

The 6'9 Brazilian was so good in his craft he consequently ended up as the sole reason why the Dream Team was assembled at the 1992 Summer Olympics. At a time when only US college players participated in FIBA tournaments and the Olympics, the Brazilian team led by Schmidt upset team USA 120-115 to take the gold at the 1987 Pan American Games. Moreover, Team USA's subsequent failure to win gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics led to the entry of pro basketball players in the 1992 edition.

Here is a cool video from that same article linked above on Oscar. Larry Bird has very flattering things to say about Schmidt:

Schmidt was drafted in the famous 1984 NBA Draft, but never suited up in the league. I wonder how good he would have been in the NBA? By the time he played the Dream Team he was already 34 and no longer in his prime. Anyway, I'm sure you all have better stories to tell about Oscar. And for that matter the aforementioned Brazilians who played for the Celtics. Please feel free to share them in the comments section!

Also, leave a comment and tell us a little bit about yourself if you wish. How you became a Celtics fan? Where in Brazil you're representing? How you found out about celticslife.com and when you first started frequenting the site? Maybe a pic of you in some Celtics gear. You know, all that good stuff.

#7: Shoutout to all the Celtics fans Bleeding Green in BRAZIL! 🇧🇷

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