1. Members of United Nations agree to have their headquarter in New York. Nobody thinks the UN was started by the US, is organized by the US, or belongs to the US, even though the US is arguably the most dominant country in world politics. Hypothetically, if it was logistically feasible, they could decide to rotate the location of the UN headquarter every 4 years. 2. Do you understand the difference between the champion of the Olympic basketball tournament, which is played in a single location each time, and the champion of the NBA? The Olympics is a world tournament. The NBA is not. 3. The Euroleague also has players from different parts of the world. Is their champion also a world champion? 4. Do you agree that the "best" team is not a winner until they actually beat its opponents in real games? Do NBA teams beat Euroleague teams (or teams in the Chinese league for that matter) in real games?
Hold on. This certainly doesn't work with boxing. And this analogy might work. The world champion boxer doesn't have to fight everyone nor does he have to be in a tournament. You have to challenge him. If the Euroleague and CBA wanted to challenge the NBA, they could. I'm sure Stern is actually getting them to try. The NBA champion is the world champion because no one outside the NBA is willing to challenge them, and the US invented the game. The only question, imo, is whether the NBA champion could win the Olympics. And I think that's a joke. The NBA champion could always beat a hodge-podge collection of NBA All-stars (the gold medalists), if it meant as much to them as winning the NBA title. Hell, Dallas pretty much just did that very thing. imo, the USA olympic team with 2 months practice can never beat the best NBA team, if that NBA team played like they do with the same intensity as when the go for a ring. Imo, the fallacy of comparing this to FIFA, is the fact all soccer players grow up thinking the WC is the biggest event. All basketball players, and Nowitzki just confirmed, grow up thinking the NBA Finals is the biggest event. What is the biggest event in basketball in the World. The answer to that question is clearly the NBA finals. The only other question is can a national team beat the NBA Finals champion...and then that is somewhat unanswerable, because it would entail whether Dallas would really care to practice for such an event.
HP, your argument is still "could X beat Y?" Whether Dallas could beat a national team is irrelevant. Could the Warriors beat the Mavs? Was Golden State better than Dallas? It's irrelevant which team was "better" in terms of championship goes. What matter is who actually won. I don't know if the boxing format would work for basketball. Conceivably, they can have a tournament for the champions of all "major" basketball leagues. There is none probably because the level between the NBA and the rest of the other leagues is still too great. (I never argue that the NBA is not far and away the best league.) But until we have such tournament, there is no club world championship. There are only national team world championships (FIBA and Olympics). There another analogy. Tennis has a world ranking. (Golf is similar) You know who is the "best" player in the world. But the player is not a "world champion." There is no such thing as world champion in tennis. They have tournaments, big and small. You win championships by playing in those tournaments. The basic point is, "the best team" is not the same as the champion. You have to have a real head to head competition to have a champion. This is why for years college football "champion" was such a lame thing. They were not determined by real games but by votes. Now they put the best two teams together. It is still quite lame because it is essentially a two-team tournament. Who is to say that a #15 team can't beat a #1 team? Remember the Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid? The best team in the world doesn't always win.
I agree, OHMSS is not helping our argument. Well they can't since there isn't a tournament where the best of the nba play against the best of the rest of the world, that is kind of our point:grin: This thread is useless. The same arguments have been used for 7 pages. Let's just agree to disagree.
It's illogical based on petty semantics... but that's sports for you. The beauty of a title is in it's grandiosity, and sports media is sensationalism at it's finest. The NBA is a global league that attracts the best talent from all over the world. The weak ones who don't survive become bitter and go back to Euroleague like V-Span and OHMSS. It might not be PC for an NBA Champ to call himself a world champ based on who is admitted to the playoffs, but based on how the trophy is marketed, who the players are, how badly America dominated the olympics when they actually tried, it's the first thing that comes to mind. And why media outlets and the NBA use the title freely on banners and merchandise. You have your way of looking at things, and I have mine. This is easily the silliest argument I've ever been a part of. Big pic but worth it - Spoiler
This shows Dallas would never lose to an All-Star Olympic team. Sorry, Easy....I agree with everything you said. give me the last tidbit about the Russian hockey team though. that's not actually a good example about whether league teams can beat olympic treams.
The reason the term "world champions" is wrong is not that they are not the best team in the world, that's what a lot of people don't understand. The reason is simply that the competition they played in was a North American competition, not a world competition. Just because the North American teams incorporate some foreign players does not change that fact.
I know. ATW, we are at an impasse. So I need some help. Where is my "Yeah" animation of the big "Yeah" breasts. remember.
But they don't. And I'm asking you where the delegates live and work - they live in New York right? Yet you consider it a world body? why? You have said that location of the participants is critical to gaining the coveted "world" modifier....but this insular lot is pretty much confined to manhattan.... So - wait - you have to be in a "single location" to call yourself a world champ? Please elaborate this new doctrinal foundation of yours.... Second, the NBA is broadcast in many more countries and witnessed worldwide by far more people than the Olympic basketball tournamnet - and people from more countries participate too - so this isn't a fruitful avenue. If they called themselves the World Minor League Champion - sure that's fine by me. Obvoiusly though, simply having people from many countires isn't enough, or else the New York Taxi Drivers association could claim to be the U.N. General Assembly. They don't even beat NCAA teams or high school teams- plus they never went up against timie machine DaDakota when he was in high school. Therefore, uh...nothing. You make up a brand spanking new set of dumb rules for who can be a "world" this or that that fall apart every time we examine them. That should be a clue to you.
That's exactly why they are not NCAA champion or high school champion. And that's why comparing teams or players across different eras is just empty talk. Why is it so hard for you to understand that a champion is the winner of a real competition, whereas "the best team" is an opinion in people's minds?
As of yet, not one single legit reason has been given in this thread as to how the Mavs are "world champions". There have however, been numerous irrational, illogical, factually flawed, incorrect, ignorant, uneducated, arrogant, xenophobic BS nonsense arguments made claiming such, that quite honestly, are incredibly pathetic. Dirk, you are the USA-Canada champions. Deal with it, and come back to reality.
I'm not concerned with some people thinking I am an idiot, when those same people think the NBA champions are the best basketball team in the world (even though they would not stay within 20-30 points against any good national team), or that the Euroleague champion could never beat the NBA champion (even though it already happened), and even though non champion European teams beat the NBA champs in the past also. Or people that fail at basic geography and think the USA/Canada = planet Earth. Or people that say asinine and false things like, "all the best players in the world are in the NBA", or "all the best players in Europe come to the NBA". That is simply being delusional, to perhaps even borderline psychotic. So, I really don't care if such people think I am an idiot. I actually know the truth and the facts, so I don't worry about being thought of as an idiot by people that are ill informed of the actual facts. Dallas is NOT the best basketball team in the world. Numerous national teams would easily beat them. The NBA champion has twice been beaten by Euroleague teams in the past. USA
