Genuine question about Noah Lyles’s comments.
Noah says that NBA Champ isn’t world champ. I don’t agree with his comments, but everyone argues that all the best players in the world play in the NBA. However, I want to consider an aspect of this argument that isn’t as discussed as much.
Example 1: Sergio Llull. Legit superstar in Euroleague, drafted into NBA, but he declined to play in the NBA by his own decision. In the Olympics and FIBA, he legit torched Team USA with players like Kobe and Chris Paul and Wade. I’m just wondering, if he had the talent to play as a legit superstar in the league like Jokic or Luka (insane shotmaking ability/playmaking), then is it actually true that the “best players in the world” come to play in the NBA?
Example 2: Yi Jianlian. Insane talent with good height and length but had problems succeeding in the NBA. I would assume that although he had insane talent, one of the reasons why he didn’t reach his potential was that he had problems communicating and acclimating to American life, especially with learning the language and living as a foreigner. Wouldn’t that aspect of acclimating to American culture, communicating, living USA lifestyle, limit the talent and potential that a foreign player can possess?
Example 3: Real Madrid beat both OKC and Dallas in Preseason. Although the starters didn’t play big minutes in those games, those were still NBA players. If even second, third string NBA players, which are still the top talents in the world, can lose to Real Madrid, would Real Madrid players have a legit shot at the NBA, but just due to some external reason other than basketball didn’t join the NBA?
Thank you for your inputs!
Noah Lyles was 100% right. It’s dumb Americans that confuse supporting a for-profit professional organization based in the U.S. (i.e., the NBA) with some misguided sense of patriotism.
As for your specific question, it’s not that EVERY best player in the world plays in the NBA. Rather, it’s that the NBA is the greatest COLLECTION of basketball talent in the world from top to bottom. In ⚽️, the English Premier League and La Liga can argue over which is the superior league. For golf, PGA, European League and LIV compete against each other, although most people would say that the PGA has a higher level of talent. But, for basketball, NBA is without question the best leavue in the world and there are only a few exceptional cases where the best player opts out of playing in the NBA.
Lmao prepare for downvotes btw for first paragraph. I got so many downvotes for saying same thing in past threads, but Americans just do not get it. Those that are a bit less secluded and follow anything outside of their country do know that calling yourself world champions for winning domestic league is ridiculous, but others naah, they will just never get it.
This is Reddit. Getting downvoted (when you’re not blatantly being a jerk) just means you have a nuanced position that upsets the simple-minded. I take it as a compliment 😃