Pick from Chicago (top 10) and Charlotte (lottery) are both protected. Atlanta's is unprotected though
Imagine being a tanking team, and within 3 years you get the 7th, 3rd and 7th picks, and two don’t start and the 3rd is always hurt. None play more than 25 mins a night on a horrible team. What are they doing
Drafting young guys with high upside? For reference, Lillard was older as a rookie then any of those 3 Blazer lotto picks are today... heck, Scoot & DC can't legally buy a beer. I understood when they were drafted that the returns wouldn't be immediate. Since I want the Blazers to compete for championships not just playoff appearances, I supported the strategy of drafting talented but incomplete players who needed to develop their skills and physically mature. The struggles we've seen in their play & the game results are expected but I am very excited about the upside all 3 have shown and have zero issues with erratic playing time and their supporting roles on this season's team. I commend management for not focusing on pleasing the impatient faction of the fanbase and instead laying the groundwork for a team with a really bright future. STOMP
My point is why have these picks and not play them as much as possible. Why are they not playing 30 mins, starting, etc. Throw them in the fire so they learn and get experience.
Your expectation about posters' expectations is about as reasonable as the expectations of the imaginary posters to whom you refer.
You've gone to that picture one too many times HCP. That's illegal motion, 5 yard penalty, a loss of downs and the forfeiture of a 2029 second round joke.
Clingan's play has improved dramatically by doing exactly the opposite of what you propose. A big part of the skill of coaching is knowing how to nurture individual talents. Some players benefit from a sink-or-swim approach, while others are better off being brought along gradually.
How would we know this? How do we know he would not have been even further along? If the coaches know something about him that they felt was better off sitting, sure, I guess so. Same with Scoot? Same with Shaedon? I could list a ton of rookies who started and played heavy mins, because they were on terrible teams and as a result got a ton of experience.
I take it you're not familiar with what all goes into coaching... Daily contact, trial and error, vocal and non-vocal feedback all go into making those decisions. There's no blueprint to follow, because people differ in how they respond and develop. Long story short, we don't know this, because we're not the ones in the position to, so questioning it is silly.
