Americans have learned their lesson, fewer and fewer call themselves world champions. It is more common courtesy and a polite thing to do.
Oh come on man, this is getting ridiculous... You're making the same point you made the other day with LeBron James, which makes absolutely no sense, you're complicating things. DatRocketFan and I aren't claiming you have to beat EVERY SINGLE person/team in the world to be crowned world champion, obviously, just the ones who've qualified for the international event/tournament, where you face the best teams from other areas of the world and compete to get that title. Magnus Carlsen was the world champion because he beat the best grandmasters in the world in open tournaments (eventhough Chess's system is more complicated than that, there's a World Cup but it's actually a qualifier event for what is called "the candidates", where 8 players battle to earn a spot as the challenger, to face the defending world champion in a multi-rounds 1v1 match. And there's also different categories. Whatever). Calling the NBA a domestic competition is not "dumb AF", it's a fact (and in the name), stop being obsessed with the presence of international players. In all top professionnal sports around the world, teams (with some minor exceptions) are filled with players coming from many different countries. It's how it works, the best teams want the best players/talents. But the presence of players from all around the world does not make it an international competition ! It's played in a national setting, between teams from the same country (two in our case with the presence of Toronto, so let's say from a limited area). Being called out on geography knowledge by an american is...funny to say the least hahaha Don't worry, as a french journalist who's been covering (along with other sports) the french league and european competitions, I know where Luka and Giannis are from. But the league being domestic or international is absolutely not dependent on its players nationalities...we don't care if the NBA has 30% of international players. It's about the teams location, that's all ! I won't get into your absurd examples about companies, KFC chicken, Google, and my english is not good enough to explain it in a better and simpler way, sorry, so I'll just stop there. Apparently you don't want to understand simple facts and, in the end, you can do whatever you want man, and consider the NBA champs world champions. It's just not factually true and an arrogant/self-centered point of view. But it's really not that important, have fun with it.
Olympics is just country champion. That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. When Michael Phelps and Simone biles win gold, they win for our country but they are literally considered the best of the best aka world champs. Can't fix American elitist mindset who can't comprehend that Denver Nuggets, is a team that represents a city in a country playing against other teams in that same country which is literally the definition of a local competition. Really need to learn what the Olympics represent. It's where the top athletes duke it out to b the world's best.
To further point out how stupid it is to deem winning the Olympics simply "country champions" The 1992 dream team won the gold in the Olympics, do u believe they couldn't dumpster the 1992 Chicago bulls? If the 1992 dream team which comprised of our best can beat the 1992 Chicago bulls how can u still consider the chicago bulls world champs for winning the nba championship and the dream team "country champions" for winning in the Olympics? Food for thought in that empty head of yours. Need to learn your geography and what an international competition actually means. By the way the Olympians/athletes that we send to represent us are our country champions (best in the country). They earn that distinct competing In the US Olympic trials which is basically the same for every other country. When they beat other countries best in the Olympics at their respective event they are considered the best of the best aka world champs
The Olympic games represent the Ancient Greeks spirit of nude sports near Mount Olymp below Zeus and their Gods. And it indelibly lodged into the minds of athletes that it is the highest of honors. Now fully in clothes. Except for Soccer.......World Cup still stands supreme!
Winning the fifa world cup is literally the pinnacle of a futbol players career. Only a certain few can win it every 4 years. U can bet your a$$ Cristiano Rolando will regret it his whole life never getting to win it while Messi did.
The dream team is made up of 100% NBA players so no **** they would be world champs. Whether the Bulls win or Dream Team wins they are both NBA you get that through that empty head of yours??? Or you still confused cuz you think Giannis is from Milwaukee??? That just proves the point the NBA is the best of the best not the countrylympics. The NBA champ is the world champ it's that simple since the best Olympic team ever had 12 NBA superstars. NBA owns the countrylympics the country's best cant stand up to the NBa's best. You keep saying the countrylympics is the best of the best that's just not true the NBA is where the best of the best are not the countrylympics.
I mentioned about having to beat every single person cuz you keep saying you need to play the game because there is 0.001% a non NBA team will beat the NBA champs. You don't need to play the game because NBA will wipe the floor with every non NBA team just like Carlsen doesn't need to beat every person on the planet to prove he is world champion. Carlsen beat the best grandmasters in the world so he can be world champion. The best basketball teams in the world aren't in the Countrylympics they are in the NBA. It's that simple. Denver Nuggets would wipe the floor with any non NBA team that doesn't have NBA players. The best countries can make are inferior to the NBA so why you have to beat them to be world champions? You have to beat NBA teams not Countrylympic teams to be world champions because again, the best teams in the world are in the NBA not in diff countries. There's just no debate about this the best players and therefore the best teams are in the NBA. Therefore to be called the best team in the world you need to beat NBA teams not the best teams of other countries. Name is just that, a name. If all it takes to be an international league is for the NBA to change their name to WBA then tbh you don't know what it means to be an international league.
Where is Lebron in the Olympics? Steph Curry? Paul George? Kawhi? Some of the best players aren't even playing in the Olympics smh so how can the Olympic team be the world champ? NBA is the world champ it's that simple cuz all the best players compete there.
With your logic the dream team wouldn't b considered world champs bc they only won the Olympics so they are "country champions". The bulls aren't considered world champs bc they only won a domestic championship. The dream are considered the best aka world champ bc they proven it by winning the Olympics. The bulls and the dream team are two separate teams. They do not and should not share the title as world champion simply bc they played in the NBA that's American elitist bullsht. U keep typing a bunch of nonsense. Just give me an answer. 1992 dream team and 1992 chicago bull what team is the World champion? If u truly believe that the 1992 chicago bull is the World champion aka being better than the 1992 dream team than u are beyond reasoning at this point.
I would have heard of the young man had he attended the University of Houston, or another illustrious university, and competed on their track team. Instead, he chose to skip college all together, along with his younger brother, and they both "turned pro." I guess they are the track equivalent of Jalen Green and company. Education having taken a back seat to the Almighty Dollar. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Lyle was wrong, the NBA doesn't consider the champs "World Champs". However, if people want to refer to the Nuggets colloquially as "world champs" then I won't get bent out of shape for it, because all of the top talent from around the world is already concentrated in the NBA. There is no such tournament that includes club teams from all other areas of the world because there aren't other leagues in the world with comparable talent. The Nuggets are "world champs" by default. I get what people are saying but it's a pointless argument revolving around semantics and not grounded in reality. It's idealist.
It is not as far fetched as you would have thought...... The FIBA rules are actually confusing the US National team to a degree, if you switch the rules superior talent can be had. Pair that up with the potential benefactors as the Saudis possibly stealing talent from the US and it is game on! If the World decided to do a World Vs NBA thing, they could do it, they just chose to cave to the NBA. This is actually the Story of Space Jam ......the Aliens are the World finding a way to steal NBA thunder. They are unbeatable until they are beaten.
You can say everything argued here on a basketball forum is pointless because it changes nothing in the real world. I don't agree with people just dismiss something as "semantics" as if meaning (semantics means meaning) does not matter in our speeches. It's ALL about semantics when we talk, or else we would not be able to understand each other. If meanings are confused, communication is confused. Yeah, we've seen this happening quite a bit here on Clutchfans. Again, it might not matter much here on a sport forum. But words and meanings have consequences, sometimes serious consequences. While I don't think the "world champion" thing is just American elitism, the fact that people in other countries think so shows that semantics affect how people feel.
They use world champions only once a year. If that word emerged in every news article, then it would have been a bigger issue. I like it when they call the Rockets “The Houston Champions”.
In the real world, no one gets crown the world champ simply by default, u have to earn it via international competiton. Simone biles, serena williams, Michael Phelps and all the gold medalists around the world didn't get recognize as the best amongst their peers by default, they proven it in international competitions. Nba is literally just US teams and 1 Canadian team Competing in a domestic league based in NA with a lot of fans proclaiming the winner as the world champ just screams American elitism. The world doesn't revolved around the US, yet a lot of americans seem to have this mindset that being in the best league or having the best players equal champs by default, but really it just means that if they actually compete in the international competition Olympics, etc. They r considered the favorites to win it all, that's it. Its not perfect but The Olympics and the fiba world cup can b used to crown world champs.
I get that, but there is currently no international competition where club teams from different areas of the world compete. Obviously the national teams already have that with FIBA and the Olympics. The basketball world does revolve around the US. All of the top talent plays in the NBA. Again, ideally I understand where you're coming from, but in reality no club team form anywhere in the world is beating the Nuggets in a seven game series. Until a club team from another league approaches the talent level in the US, the reality is that the Nuggets are "world" champs because they're the best club team in the world. That's very deep. I know there is an anti-American "elitist" feeling amongst people in the world, but when it comes to basketball, American "elitism" is warranted. It's a global game (2nd most popular in the world) but all of the top talent still goes through the NBA. If, when that happens we can revisit the discussion. If the world's top talent stopped playing for the NBA and instead played for their countries' club teams, then there should be an international club team tournament which would decide the "world" champion. But that's not happening for the foreseeable future.
The MVP coming from Europe suggests basketball is already changing, it may happen slower but it will eventually happen. The Wemby project shows the NBA is proactively searching for an International Face of the League. The problem is that there are not many visionaries in basketball in Europe, Middle East etc....like with Soccer.
