Gregg Popovich agreed with Noah Lyles 13 years ago: 'It's inappropriate' / News - Basketnews.com

13 years ago, Gregg Popovich said almost the exact same thing track star Noah Lyles got shamed for by the NBA players recently.

Credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay - Scanpix Credit AP Photo/Eric Gay - Scanpix

The NBA offseason is usually quiet at this time of the year. One viral video has disturbed an otherwise peaceful period, though - track and field star Noah Lyles taking a beef with the NBA.

After winning the 200-meter title, Lyles was asked about his 100-200-meter double. In a colorful response, he said that this achievement is bigger than what other sports like to call it.

"The thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA finals, and they have 'World champion' on their heads. World champion of what? The United States?" he said. "Don't get me wrong, I love the US at times, but that ain't the world."

Numerous high-profile NBA players belittled the athletics star for his opinion. At the same time, countless international basketball fans were happy that their opinion was finally voiced by an American.

One interesting detail has emerged - the legendary NBA coach and now Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich said the exact words more than 13 years ago.

"There are no world champions in the NBA, so anybody that has the flag up that says world champions is not correct. It's not appropriate," he told Steve Bulpett from The Boston Herald in an interview in March 2010.

"The world champions, I believe, are the Spanish team right now. USA is the Olympic champion. The Lakers are the NBA champion," he said about the situation back then. "It doesn't make sense for an NBA team to call themselves world champions. I don't remember anybody playing anybody outside our borders to get that tag. Isn't that true? I keep waiting for somebody to tell me I've missed something."

When the name of the Toronto Raptors was mentioned to Pop, he dismissed the argument.

"There's a team in Canada. That's true. The world's bigger than North America. I know sometimes we, as arrogant Americans, don't respond to the rest of the world, but it's true. There's a big world out there," the coach said back in 2010.

The San Antonio Spurs, for example, have their NBA championship banners saying 'NBA Champions' compared to the teams like the Boston Celtics who call themselves World Champions on their banners.

"I'm not trying to be an ass," Popovich said. "Why can't we just be NBA champions? That's what we are. We're NBA champions. That's not good enough? I think that's pretty cool. I think that's pretty good to be an NBA champion. That's hard to do."

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