steady986:


The Olympic team was never the issue, whether they win it or not. That is a team that has the right to call themselves world champions because they have actually beaten teams from different parts of the world. It's a US based club calling themselves world champions that's the issue. Calling themselves world champions by virtue of a perceived notion that they can beat any team in the world without actually beating any team in the WORLD. If the Celtics or the Lakers play in a tournament against the likes of Real Madrid, Anadolu Efes, Flamengo and the rest, and win the tournament, only then can they have the right to call themselves world champions.

It's like somebody declaring himself president without an election Even if you're the overwhelming favourite to win the election when it's held. But you ain't the president yet

I know. I am implying that Mr 'Big Mouth' Lyles will find a way to subtly jab the BBall team if they lose. His mouth has been loose for a while.

greypencils:
Curry na my guy but person gats tell the truth. Without those screens, he can't do much damage unlike my guy KD, Kobe or Lebron who will create separation using a fadeaway. Here at the Olympics, there is no servant to be giving screens like Draymond would.

Is that not like saying without getting an entry pass, Kareem, The Dream, both Malones, Duncan etc cannot do damage?

kendrick93:
Don't underestimate how much it influences a player stats when an entire team are dedicated to setting screens for you.
With rules meant to inflate offensive stats.

Genuine question, is an offense based on setting screens not part of the game?.
Its like having a striker like van nisteroy and saying you know he won't be effective if his team does not have good crossers of the ball.

Khanben:


Genuine question, is an offense based on setting screens not part of the game?.
Its like having a striker like van nisteroy and saying you know he won't be effective if his team does not have good crossers of the ball.

Their definition of great basketball player is a 1 v 1 iso merchant like iverson. They have forgotten it's 5 V 5.

A40

Looks like it's Noah Lyles 1 Team USA 0.

If Team USA fails to win the Gold Medal, they'll have to hold the "L" forever I'm afraid. Also reports are saying a few members of Team USA were at the stadium to hate watch Noah Lyles but left with their tails firmly between their legs.

chic2pimp:
A40

Looks like it's Noah Lyles 1 Team USA 0.

If Team USA fails to win the Gold Medal, they'll have to hold the "L" forever I'm afraid. Also reports are saying a few members of Team USA were at the stadium to hate watch Noah Lyles but left with their tails firmly between their legs.

But the Gold medal is not a World championship is it?

If Team USA wins Olympic gold (which they will, can we call them world champions?)

Lol Noah Lyles was just playing oversabi Captain Pedantic and trying to go viral. Which failed by the way cos people still don't know who the nigga really is

Why not focus on actually being a showman and likable like a Usain Bolt.

Basketball competitive architecture is very different from almost every other sport. The talent pools are disproportionately skewed to one league. Saying NBA teams have to compete with teams from Venezuela, Latvia or Djibouti to prove themselves is goofy. When any half decent player from these countries will do blood rituals just to make it to the NBA

Look at even the FIBA and the Olympics, Canada and Germany are the only teams that have a puncher's chance and these teams have no fewer than 4 NBA players as their best players on the squad

The FIBA MVP was an NBA player. Their allstar 5 were all NBA players

So his entire argument is that of pedantry not common sense.

Let's take it even further to a sport like Boxing. Why is Usyk the Undisputed Heavyweight champ? He only beat AJ, Dubois and Fury over a 2 year period. Is that all it takes? 3 boxers from one country?

What if I told you there's some unknown Maori or Cuban Boxer or a warrior from the Ahi Ahi tribe that KOs Oleksandr Usyk with just one punch. You can't disprove it can you?

Surprised to hear Team USA were that thin skinned to hate watch him tbh. I wouldn't care enough to feel anyway about it

kendrick93:
Yes but he needed a platform to showcase he can be a leading man- opportunity.

And he grabbed it with both hands.
The NBA is rigged, they chose their stars and also bring about rules which elevates these so called stars stats.

Agreed on the first. But NBA is no more rigged than other work places. You can be gamed out of rotation for many reasons, which might have little to do with your skills. Regular workplace ish. Brunson fell into the hands of the type of coach that loves his grit. And he took full advantage. It might not work out that way on other teams.

NBA Champs are not world champs

Argue with your keyboard or come and throw hands with me in my house

And yea, yles gave a big L to those loud mouthed NBA stars

They can go and hug a newly bought transformer

steady986:


The Olympic team was never the issue, whether they win it or not. That is a team that has the right to call themselves world champions because they have actually beaten teams from different parts of the world. It's a US based club calling themselves world champions that's the issue. Calling themselves world champions by virtue of a perceived notion that they can beat any team in the world without actually beating any team in the WORLD. If the Celtics or the Lakers play in a tournament against the likes of Real Madrid, Anadolu Efes, Flamengo and the rest, and win the tournament, only then can they have the right to call themselves world champions.

It's like somebody declaring himself president without an election Even if you're the overwhelming favourite to win the election when it's held. But you ain't the president yet

I totally agree with you on this

A championship NBA Team cannot call itself world champion

I mean the "N" in NBA stands for "National" and not "World"

And i can bet it that the celtics team may not necessarily beat the Eurobasket champions in a 4 game series in a FIBA officiated game

Khanben:


Is that not like saying without getting an entry pass, Kareem, The Dream, both Malones, Duncan etc cannot do damage?

No its not. Those 3 can flat out ball and get theirs in any game. Go watch Kareem vs Dr J on youtube, then refresh yourself on Hakeem vs Ewing and Hakeem vs Admiral. Then come back and apologize.

gargoyle:
NBA Champs are not world champs

Argue with your keyboard or come and throw hands with me in my house

And yea, yles gave a big L to those loud mouthed NBA stars

They can go and hug a newly bought transformer

What kind of idiot badmouths his teamates from his own country during olympics? What kind of madness could infect your brain to run your mouth like that. I can understand non americans hating on dream team 2. But an american? That is some dumb as a rock type ish.

A40:


Surprised to hear Team USA were that thin skinned to hate watch him tbh. I wouldn't care enough to feel anyway about it

Yes you would. Replace USA with Nigeria. Why would you take a dump on your compadres medal

birdman:


Yes you would. Replace USA with Nigeria. Why would you take a dump on your compadres medal

Mehh. Sometimes you just unlook and not feed the troll

Like I said the fact that he is more popular for that infamous rant than his actual achievements on the track (which is quite formidable tbh) should probably be a cue for him to change approach if he is a critical thinker

Abeg no dey do this. Was Lyles technically correct? Oh yes. Was it pedantry? Very likely. Well, he got all the attention, didn't he? Yes. They all have to get out from under Usain Bolt's shadow.

Could you call the FIBA World Cup winner world champions? Yes. If you can call any team world champions, the winner of the FIBA World Cup should at least be in that category. Also, your FIBA example is alright until you ask the question; How many of the All-star 5 were from the team that won the NBA championship?

The NBA calling themselves world champions without competing is superfluous in the first place. (Even though on paper they would very likely beat any team in any other league in the world). If the almighty NBA can do that, I am certainly allowed to be excessive and overly technical too. You love attention, I certainly love it too.

As Birdman talk, it's not ok to do that to your folks though. Leave that to athletes/Players from other countries.

I am glad he won though.

A40:

But the Gold medal is not a World championship is it?

If Team USA wins Olympic gold (which they will, can we call them world champions?)

Lol Noah Lyles was just playing oversabi Captain Pedantic and trying to go viral. Which failed by the way cos people still don't know who the nigga really is

Why not focus on actually being a showman and likable like a Usain Bolt.

Basketball competitive architecture is very different from almost every other sport. The talent pools are disproportionately skewed to one league. Saying NBA teams have to compete with teams from Venezuela, Latvia or Djibouti to prove themselves is goofy. When any half decent player from these countries will do blood rituals just to make it to the NBA

Look at even the FIBA and the Olympics, Canada and Germany are the only teams that have a puncher's chance and these teams have no fewer than 4 NBA players as their best players on the squad

The FIBA MVP was an NBA player. Their allstar 5 were all NBA players

So his entire argument is that of pedantry not common sense.

Let's take it even further to a sport like Boxing. Why is Usyk the Undisputed Heavyweight champ? He only beat AJ, Dubois and Fury over a 2 year period. Is that all it takes? 3 boxers from one country?

What if I told you there's some unknown Maori or Cuban Boxer or a warrior from the Ahi Ahi tribe that KOs Oleksandr Usyk with just one punch. You can't disprove it can you?

Surprised to hear Team USA were that thin skinned to hate watch him tbh. I wouldn't care enough to feel anyway about it

benji93:
Abeg no dey do this. Was Lyles technically correct? Oh yes. Was it pedantry? Very likely. Well, he got all the attention, didn't he? Yes. They all have to get out from under Usain Bolt's shadow.

It’s pure pedantry and if we break it down to a lot of sports we can question the title of world champions everytime. Ali, Tyson, Usyk, Lennox are all regarded as World Heavyweight champions. Which tournament did they fight in to decide that.

Usain Bolt knew to not say stupid shit like that for one and Usain actually has charisma, everything with Noah just seems forced, even the rant

benji93:


Could you call the FIBA World Cup winner world champions? Yes. If you can call any team world champions, the winner of the FIBA World Cup should at least be in that category. Also, your FIBA example is alright until you ask the question; How many of the All-star 5 were from the team that won the NBA championship?

The NBA calling themselves world champions without competing is superfluous in the first place. (Even though on paper they would very likely beat any team in any other league in the world). If the almighty NBA can do that, I am certainly allowed to be excessive and overly technical too. You love attention, I certainly love it too.

As Birdman talk, it's not ok to do that to your folks though. Leave that to athletes/Players from other countries.

I am glad he won though.

Basketball competitive architecture is unlike any other. I don't know why all of you keep glossing over this little fact.

The pinnacle of Basketball competition is the NBA, not no damn FIBA. Nobody considers MJ the GOAT cos of what he did in FIBA, even the other pretender is not considered in the argument cos of FIBA

Like I said. It's all semantics. Everyone is free to their opinion. But I believe that the undisputed best league in the world that is open to players of all nationalities is within it's right to call the winners their world champions

If you think they have to beat semi professionals from Bulgaria, Somalia, Oman,Tonga and Venezuela to prove it. I disagree. It's not an on paper matter. Alex Poatan Pereira or Jon Jones will beat us both to a pulp. We don't need to enter cage to determine this

Same way Usyk does not need to beat a fighter from Guatemala to be the Undisputed World Heavyweight champion. Based on how these sports work it's just assumed that they are the best.

A40:

It’s pure pedantry and if we break it down to a lot of sports we can question the title of world champions everytime. Ali, Tyson, Usyk, Lennox are all regarded as World Heavyweight champions. Which tournament did they fight in to decide that.

Usain Bolt knew to not say stupid shit like that for one and Usain actually has charisma, everything with Noah just seems forced, even the rant


Basketball competitive architecture is unlike any other. I don't know why all of you keep glossing over this little fact.

The pinnacle of Basketball competition is the NBA, not no damn FIBA. Nobody considers MJ the GOAT cos of what he did in FIBA, even the other pretender is not considered in the argument cos of FIBA

Like I said. It's all semantics. Everyone is free to their opinion. But I believe that the undisputed best league in the world that is open to players of all nationalities is within it's right to call the winners their world champions

If you think they have to beat semi professionals from Bulgaria, Somalia, Oman,Tonga and Venezuela to prove it. I disagree. It's not an on paper matter. Alex Poatan Pereira or Jon Jones will beat us both to a pulp. We don't need to enter cage to determine this

Same way Usyk does not need to beat a fighter from Guatemala to be the Undisputed World Heavyweight champion. Based on how these sports work it's just assumed that they are the best.

"World champion" and "best in the world" are two different tags. You can be attributed the tag "best in the world" for a number of reasons e.g talent/players you possess, current form, titles won etc. But as far as I know, there is only one requirement which earns the title "world champions", which is to win a world cup/championship. Win a tournament which is
1. Contested by the best from around the world
2. Held for the purpose of crowning the world champions
3. Organised by the world governing body of the sport
and you earn the title of world champions.

It doesn't matter if the NBA is bigger than FIBA. The Champions League is a "bigger" competition than the Club world cup, and teams that win the UCL almost always win the CWC. But Real Madrid don't get called champions of the world for winning the UCL. They're given a very specific tag "champions of Europe".

I don't see why the term "world champions" should be used so loosely when there are specific conditions for it. It's not like "the best" tag for which arguments can be made for and against. You can argue for/against why a team/player should be called the best. But we can't argue about them being called champions if they win the championship. It's a specific tag for a specific title. Don't see why it should be different here.

Canada not going away here. Much better second half performance. Kudos to SGA

Wemby having a torrid shooting performance but been good defensively.

Evan Fournier coming up clutch

Has to be said, the refs have been very kind to France. Or perhaps, Canada have just struggled massively with foul trouble

Fournier with a massive clutch performance. He's effectively sent France to the semis

Haven't really been following the Olympics, but is there a reason why a Canadian team with Shai, Brooks, Barrett and L dort are unable to beat a French Team with only wemby starting?
Why isn't wiggins on the Team?

When I talk about Jamal Murray e go be like na agenda. If he continues on this form, the Nuggets are screwed. Imagine paying this dude the max....

Skrrrrrrr:
Haven't really been following the Olympics, but is there a reason why a Canadian team with Shai, Brooks, Barrett and L dort are unable to beat a French Team with only wemby starting?
Why isn't wiggins on the Team?

The non-NBA players on France were pretty decent. Especially Yabusele and Lassort, who were foul magnets. And asides SGA, the Canadians didn't show up.

There'll be many questions asked about the officiating.

France shot 42 free throws in a 40 minute game

Skrrrrrrr:
Haven't really been following the Olympics, but is there a reason why a Canadian team with Shai, Brooks, Barrett and L dort are unable to beat a French Team with only wemby starting?
Why isn't wiggins on the Team?

On paper yes you could mention names but in reality it's SGA plus a bunch of bums.
Barrett excluded

D gap don dey grow o. At least our women try enter quarterfinals

birdman:
D gap don dey grow o. At least our women try enter quarterfinals

See the 4th quarter na! Our chics basically outscored the WNBA. That's a massive confidence boost. No one wants to see this team in the next FIBA tournament. That Wakama girl just has to stay. She is going no where.

You are correct, we can always question the use of the word "World champions" in different sports. We can always find reasons not to give a champion a world status. I am not sure I agree with your use of "Which tournament did they fight in to decide that?". The organization of tournaments is a means to rank the participants, and different sports have different ways of achieving that. As far as I know, all boxing organizations have ratings/rankings of professional boxers, and on average, even though marketability is very important, these rankings determine the matches, apart from cross-organization title fights. So, indeed even though you and I will be crushed by Usyk, and we don't need an actual fight to determine that, neither you nor I is rated, at least I know I am not. Here, there's a way to get to fight for Word champion, i.e get highly ranked. It's not perfect, but the chance of someone outside the top 5 in any organization beating the current World champion is low, not to talk of an unranked person. It's imperfect but ok. They even specify the organization. As in "WBC world champion".

This is an individual sport though, let's go to a team sport that may be comparable. Most countries have football leagues and yet you and I are mostly sure that the winner of the European Champions League wins most of the time. The club World Cup shows that. The European champion has lost only 20% of the time. Yet they call themselves European champions and not World champions until they win the Club World Cup.

Maybe I am just overestimating the popularity of the NBA. I hope this noise gets these folks to organize the World Basketball League. , so that title can make more sense. For countries, the FIBA World Cup makes sense, just as the FIFA World Cup makes sense for football.

I just checked and it seems BlewMahn mentioned some of this stuff.

A40:

It’s pure pedantry and if we break it down to a lot of sports we can question the title of world champions everytime. Ali, Tyson, Usyk, Lennox are all regarded as World Heavyweight champions. Which tournament did they fight in to decide that.

Usain Bolt knew to not say stupid shit like that for one and Usain actually has charisma, everything with Noah just seems forced, even the rant


Basketball competitive architecture is unlike any other. I don't know why all of you keep glossing over this little fact.

The pinnacle of Basketball competition is the NBA, not no damn FIBA. Nobody considers MJ the GOAT cos of what he did in FIBA, even the other pretender is not considered in the argument cos of FIBA

Like I said. It's all semantics. Everyone is free to their opinion. But I believe that the undisputed best league in the world that is open to players of all nationalities is within it's right to call the winners their world champions

If you think they have to beat semi professionals from Bulgaria, Somalia, Oman,Tonga and Venezuela to prove it. I disagree. It's not an on paper matter. Alex Poatan Pereira or Jon Jones will beat us both to a pulp. We don't need to enter cage to determine this

Same way Usyk does not need to beat a fighter from Guatemala to be the Undisputed World Heavyweight champion. Based on how these sports work it's just assumed that they are the best.

BlewMahn:


"World champion" and "best in the world" are two different tags. You can be attributed the tag "best in the world" for a number of reasons e.g talent/players you possess, current form, titles won etc. But as far as I know, there is only one requirement which earns the title "world champions", which is to win a world cup/championship. Win a tournament which is
1. Contested by the best from around the world
2. Held for the purpose of crowning the world champions
3. Organised by the world governing body of the sport
and you earn the title of world champions.

It doesn't matter if the NBA is bigger than FIBA. The Champions League is a "bigger" competition than the Club world cup, and teams that win the UCL almost always win the CWC. But Real Madrid don't get called champions of the world for winning the UCL. They're given a very specific tag "champions of Europe".

I don't see why the term "world champions" should be used so loosely when there are specific conditions for it. It's not like "the best" tag for which arguments can be made for and against. You can argue for/against why a team/player should be called the best. But we can't argue about them being called champions if they win the championship. It's a specific tag for a specific title. Don't see why it should be different here.

Couldn't have said it any better

benji93:
You are correct, we can always question the use of the word "World champions" in different sports. We can always find reasons not to give a champion a world status. I am not sure I agree with your use of "Which tournament did they fight in to decide that?". The organization of tournaments is a means to rank the participants, and different sports have different ways of achieving that. As far as I know, all boxing organizations have ratings/rankings of professional boxers, and on average, even though marketability is very important, these rankings determine the matches, apart from cross-organization title fights. So, indeed even though you and I will be crushed by Usyk, and we don't need an actual fight to determine that, neither you nor I is rated, at least I know I am not. Here, there's a way to get to fight for Word champion, i.e get highly ranked. It's not perfect, but the chance of someone outside the top 5 in any organization beating the current World champion is low, not to talk of an unranked person. It's imperfect but ok. They even specify the organization. As in "WBC world champion".

This is an individual sport though, let's go to a team sport that may be comparable. Most countries have football leagues and yet you and I are mostly sure that the winner of the European Champions League wins most of the time. The club World Cup shows that. The European champion has lost only 20% of the time. Yet they call themselves European champions and not World champions until they win the Club World Cup.

Maybe I am just overestimating the popularity of the NBA. I hope this noise gets these folks to organize the World Basketball League. , so that title can make more sense. For countries, the FIBA World Cup makes sense, just as the FIFA World Cup makes sense for football.

I just checked and it seems BlewMahn mentioned some of this stuff.

Basketball was invented in the USA, and is dominant only in the USA. The US is the center of the basketball universe, and until that changes, this is where the best of the best come. Do we need a competition between unilag and stanford to determine who is world class? Or do we just look at the results and understand we can say stanford and caltech and harvard are world class without needing a head to head competition against uniben or unical or whatever.

NBA champs are world champs because the league is head and shoulders above any other league. The smart thing about yankee is they eventually allowed blacks to participate in these sports, so you have a combo of wealth, organization and raw skill. Had Durant grown up in Nigeria or Congo, guy man for be suya vendor by now. But yankee has afforded such rare talents opportunity.

No need for pedantic nonsense, yall stop trying to form intellectual on simple matters.

birdman:


Basketball was invented in the USA, and is dominant only in the USA. The US is the center of the basketball universe, and until that changes, this is where the best of the best come. Do we need a competition between unilag and stanford to determine who is world class? Or do we just look at the results and understand we can say stanford and caltech and harvard are world class without needing a head to head competition against uniben or unical or whatever.

NBA champs are world champs because the league is head and shoulders above any other league. The smart thing about yankee is they eventually allowed blacks to participate in these sports, so you have a combo of wealth, organization and raw skill. Had Durant grown up in Nigeria or Congo, guy man for be suya vendor by now. But yankee has afforded such rare talents opportunity.

No need for pedantic nonsense, yall stop trying to form intellectual on simple matters.

my alma mater "unilag" fit beat dat harvard

I would like to think Football started somewhere too, England I believe, and that country/region was at the center of it. Where's it today? I thought the NBA was working hard at globalizing the sport. How do you determine the center radius is not spreading if you don't compete against others? How do you test how others are doing? Just an eye test? Why do you like giving these unfair examples? Unilag and Stanford? Perhaps you are citing this cos those are the places you lived in, but don't you think an example of a University basketball team in Europe would be a comparable example? The distance between Unilag and Stanford is too far apart to reconcile. You are making it seem as if this is strictly Nigeria vs USA.

Again, Football started in England, but now, even in the regional tournament, we know the title of "European champion" has rotated between different teams from different leagues over different periods. Football evolved in tournament organization to the point where multiple leagues dominate. This is what we are talking about.

and @Birdman, what am I supposed to do with your last comment? How has the fact that the sport allows black kids to at least cross socio-economic barriers related to the "World champions" argument? Does that not apply to most sporting activities?

And abeg no emotionally blackmail us. "Pedantic nonsense" indeed.

birdman:


Basketball was invented in the USA, and is dominant only in the USA. The US is the center of the basketball universe, and until that changes, this is where the best of the best come. Do we need a competition between unilag and stanford to determine who is world class? Or do we just look at the results and understand we can say stanford and caltech and harvard are world class without needing a head to head competition against uniben or unical or whatever.

NBA champs are world champs because the league is head and shoulders above any other league. The smart thing about yankee is they eventually allowed blacks to participate in these sports, so you have a combo of wealth, organization and raw skill. Had Durant grown up in Nigeria or Congo, guy man for be suya vendor by now. But yankee has afforded such rare talents opportunity.

No need for pedantic nonsense, yall stop trying to form intellectual on simple matters.

You are on your own on this one.

Killrhymz01:

my alma mater "unilag" fit beat dat harvard

benji93:
You are making it seem as if this is strictly Nigeria vs USA.

Basketball is primarily an american sport. Outsidse the US, athletes will play football/soccer first. NBA washouts become all stars in other nations leagues. We have a center who cant score or handle the ball in the NBA playing PG and dropping 3s in China. If this is not sufficient info for you, you just want to argue. The basketball universe is primarily the USA. know this and know peace.

Killrhymz01:

my alma mater "unilag" fit beat dat harvard

in what? Im afraid I should not even ask