Yes,but he wouldnt have much to gain by going into a debate with him.The only winner of that kind of debate would be the small guy,the one that's unknown,aka the one that wants to release his own crypto.
Short,he would have much to lose if "lose" the debate and nothing to gain if he would win the debate.And what he and his team is doing is promising and has alot of potential.And in his position are very few people,but in the small guy's position there could be thousands,it would be a neverending battle,everyone would want to debate him to boost his own project,now wouldnt they ?And its not like hes hiding, he's often doing interviews and answering questions.
Now imagine if the roles were reversed.VB would be the new kid on the block and tpbd would be a big project's leader.Same would happen,its only logical,he wouldnt debate about something thats not set yet and on something that you're still trying to solve,and as the development goes further more problems will arise,its only normal.Not to mention VB isnt the only brain in ethereum's team,the team is huge compared to these one man army projects.
This is speculative rationalization.
The problem is that TPTB_need_war and the others who contributed to this thread bring up legitimate concerns that do not show any theoretical solution. Maybe VB does have some solution, but absence of him giving such a solution isn't grounds to assume that such a solution exist based on the size of the group, or how smart they are, or any other speculative rationalization--there is just as good a chance that the absence of a solution is because one doesn't exist or Eth's team won't be the ones who find it or an adequate alternative. Genius doesn't guarantee success, money doesn't guarantee success, and lots of man hours doesn't guarantee success, and while those things taken together are a definite plus, they cannot be used as evidence of solving a problem, theoretical or otherwise (at least one that doesn't involve specifically money, manpower or genius).