A while before the Paris Olympics 2024 started, American sprinter Noah Lyles set the sporting world on fire when he questioned why NBA Champions refer to themselves as world champions. His logic was based on the fact that the NBA is a national league. In the backdrop of the Olympics and Lyles winning the 100m gold medal, Brian Windhorst had an interesting take on the subject.
The longtime analyst was speaking from Paris via video conference on NBA Today. While discussing the nuances he has noticed so far, he said:
If the Boston Celtics were in this tournament, I think they’d have a very good chance to win it. Obviously, they’d be pulling some players off Team USA. But I think the Boston Celtics coming together, I think, considering what they do, I think they’d have a great chance to win it. I’m not going to back down from the Celtics calling themselves world champs and I don’t think they should either.
Brian Windhorst on NBA Today
Brian Windhorst feels that the Boston Celtics are good enough to call themselves world champions. As they have the quality to beat any national team at the Paris Olympics 2024.
This could shut Noah Lyles‘ point more than ever. Three Celtics players are a part of Team USA. Jaylen Brown could have also been a part of it. If a team has potentially four Olympians from the same roster, and they end up winning the gold medal, the argument can rest, according to Windhorst.
“Today is not the day to disagree with Noah Lyles. … If the Boston Celtics were in this [Olympic] tournament, I think they’d have a very good chance to win it.”@WindhorstESPN doesn’t think the Boston Celtics should back down from calling themselves World Champions 👀 pic.twitter.com/SXwBJJqbGQ
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) August 5, 2024
Currently, none of the national teams can take on the Boston Celtics in a matchup. As neither of them has a starting five as dynamic and complimentary as those who won the NBA championship. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the Boston Celtics can win an Olympic gold medal.
Boston Celtics are a super team
Even before the Celtics traded for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, they were good enough to go to the NBA finals. But the addition of those two changed the landscape of the NBA. No longer were they completely dependent on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. In fact, the additions of Holiday and Porzingis helped Brown focus more on his scoring and become the NBA Finals MVP.
That said, what is more impressive about the Boston Celtics is their depth. No other team in the league has the kind of depth the NBA title-winning team has from top to bottom. Even if the Eastern Conference hadn’t seen so many injuries to star players, they breezed through the playoffs.
What is scary for the league is that almost all of them are going to return for next season. Now they will come in with a season of experience playing alongside each other. That chemistry could prove vital as they go in to defend their title.
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