Thread by @JuliusGoat

Let's play ball. 6 players allowed on court.

1st half: I get 6 players and you get 0.
3rd quarter, I get 5 players and you get 1.
Before the 4th quarter the league announces we're going to keep the score the same, but now it's 3 on 3.

I complain this discriminates...against me.

I used to have SIX players. Then I allowed the other team to put a player on the court—and that player struggled! Look how few points they scored!

But now I'm being FORCED to give up 2 more players on a winning team?

Whatever happened to merit-based basketball?

What makes me even angrier is when people suggest that we could just switch to 5 on 5, so that everybody could play. Um, that's not the way the game's founders intended us to play it, guys.

Let's be realistic.

Oh now you're bringing up the first half again. Look, that is in the past. It has nothing to do with right now.

I just wish we would put the six best players on the court, which are obviously mine ... look at the scoreboard.

What I object to is artificially changing things in the middle of a game to try to create false balance. We can't fix the mistakes of the beginning of the game with reverse discrimination against the other team later in the game. What ever happened to real competitive spirit?

Listen: I don't object to 3 on 3.

The real issue to me is that by announcing the change ahead of the 4th quarter, the league obviously called the qualification of the new players into doubt. They'll always play with an asterisk by their names unless they manage to win the game.

Too generous if you ask me. That's why I think it's good that my opponents have to play without shoes, running backward, with one arm tied behind their backs.

Because we can't just give people things. If they don't work for it they won't appreciate it.

https://twitter.com/vijtable/status/1487784576130985989?s=20&t=kztWtG3CLHzSIovXaZG-kA

I sympathize if you want 3 on 3, but honestly you haven't convinced my fans it's a good idea. I hate to say but your strident insisting that they're being unfair is just making them dig deeper into their positions. You have to listen to them, understand their struggles.

The idea of 3 on 3 basketball is something that is very scary to my fans, and you have to get out of your echo chambers and be more persuasive. If you just *cram* a rule change down their throats there's no telling what I might not stop them in any way from doing.

I know that the rulebook guarantees an equal number of players from each team, but that's an *aspirational* goal. If you want it, you have to *make us do it*.

No. No. Nononono, not like that. By "make us do it," I meant "asking us nicely and waiting patiently for an answer."

So again you bring teams into this. Talking about teams is just making "us versus them" divisions in our sporting match.

ARE there 5 members of my team on the court? I wouldn't know. I can't even SEE jersey colors.

I think we should judge people on the quality of their play.

Maybe 3-on-3 is a good idea but honestly is this the right time? I feel like it would be a terrible mistake to rush a decision without having the full debate.

Here to discuss this controversy are a panel of five coaches from my team.

We're not considering the concerns of parents here. A lot of them paid good money to bring their kids here. Are we going to tell them that 6 on 0 was COMLETELY unfair, and their team is still benefitting from it no matter what they do about it? Where's the redemption there?

I for one refuse to tell the children of my longtime fans, who learned to root for this team as a tradition from father to son, that they're AUTOMATIC cheaters in a game they didn't even play in. They didn't score those points.

Why do so called "3 on 3" extremists hate basketball so much? It's the greatest sport in the world and everyone knows it.

I for one am a true fan and will never apologize for basketball. And if I start to lose the slightest bit of my lead I will burn the goddamn stadium down.

People keep talking about this word "analogy"?? I'm just passionate about the game of basketball you guys.