[OhCanada-Participant]

If you had to choose a system to develop your talented draft picks and free agent signings which style would you lean more towards.

(A) Minutes Earned
Draft and acquire young talent and have them slowly progress into a large role/responsibility through gradual development by setting standard expectations and using your veterans as a benchmark. If the expectations arent met the players playing time is limited until his weaknesses are no longer liabilities. This style is usually found in teams that have their core group in place and is looking to compliment it.

Examples
Kawhi Leonard-San Antonio Spurs
Jimmy Butler-Chicago Bulls
Jabari Parker-Milwaukee Bucks
Jaylen Brown-Boston Celtics
Dejuante Murray-San Antonio Spurs
Patrick Mccaw-Golden State Warriors

(B) Minutes Given
Draft and acquire young talent and have them immediately assume large roles within the system allowing them to play through, identify and learn from their mistakes. The players are given the maximum amount of minutes despite any glaring weakness in their game. This style is usually implement by rebuilding teams that lack any marketable talent or core group of players.

Examples
John Wall-Washington Wizards
Anthony Davis-New Orleans Pelicans
Brandon Ingram-Los Angeles Lakers
Damian Lilliard-Portland Trailblazers
Russell Westbrook-Oklaholma City
Andrew Wiggins-Minnesota Timberwolves

What are some pros and cons of each style?
Usually you find players that need to earn their minutes are more well rounded and discipline players with less holes in their game yet most of the time this limits a players potential and has them accept being a role player. Players that are given minutes immediately seem more confident in their strengths which is usually scoring but usually have glaring weaknesses in their games and form bad habits.

Change of Environment

Its fun to think about how a players development could have changed if the scenario changed. Imagine if Parker was developed like Wiggins and Wiggins like Parker.
Despite the injuries Jabari Parker has had to earn his minutes and transform his game into a rim runner athletic forward and transform his body into more of a power game to get on the court especially with strict Jason Kidd there. Wiggins has been handed his minutes despite having one of the worst defensive ratings and absolutely no upper body strength.

I feel like Brandon Ingram is being developed incorrectly at the moment. The kid should be in the gym focusing on his strength and conditioning not playing 25 minutes per game of bad basketball learning how to make losing plays.

I also feel like Dejaunte Murray could benefit from being on a team where he could learn from his mistakes and be given a lot of minutes although you cant argue with the Spurs their history speaks for itself.

What are your thoughts? What style would you use? Who are some coaches, teams, players that would benefit from changing? Would you rather take the 76ers route of drafting and developing injures players?

[r377Participant]

Minutes earned, plus add in veteran leadership is the best way. Maybe watch and learn from a vet, then come in against the opposition’s second unit to build your confidence up..

[r377Participant]

I also think that some teams need to give players (like second rounders) a good chance.

Thinking of my Pistons here. Its hard to get momentum when you play 4 or 5 minutes here and there. Sometimes these second rounders need 10-20 games of 20-30 mins. You play 82 games in a season and lets face it, its not going to make or break your season. You might lose 2 or 3 more games but you could get lucky and strike a gem like Middleton or Afflalo.

[Anton123Participant]

Do you really believe that playing Brandon Ingram 5-10 fewer minutes would massively help his strength and conditioning? He’s getting the chance to get used to playing in the NBA and I’m pretty sure it isn’t really interfering with his strength training, his season also ends in a week and he’ll have half a year to focus on developing his body.

These aren’t really two opposing systems, most of the players you listed in the first group were just on good teams that were interested in winning, most of the second group – on horrible ones that were not too interested in winning. That’s the question there – is it better for a rookie to go to a team that is battling for a playoff spot or is it better to go to a bottom-feeder.

The major advantage that guys like Kawhi Leonard had was that they were around first class players and first class coaches, I think it is no question that putting a player into a situation where he is surrounded by terrific personnel that is able to both push him and keep him feeling comfortable – is always the best way to develop a rookie. 

 

[OhCanada-Participant]

 Yes I do. If you strictly give him garbage time and tell him "youll get more minutes when you gain x amount of muscle"  Im sure he would go hit the gym and gain the weight. If he doesnt then he was never going to anyways. Use the minutes as leverage thats what coaches have always done. Ingram is averaging 10-ppg 4-rpg and 2-apg in 30 minutes per game so its not like hes been a bust he is still very young but hes also the skinniest player in the league and he needs to add some strength. 

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

The thing is with the discrepancy in your lists is that your "minutes earned" team is that maybe these players just weren’t ready coming out of college ready to contribute, whereas the "minutes given" were much more talented and NBA ready. The guys that got minutes got them because they were probably the best player at that position whereas guys that were brought along slowly are more so players that were drafted on to good teams with good depth. I think all your "minutes earned" earned guys were drafted Top 5, onto horrible teams; can you justify bringing them along slowly? Does it benefit a rookie playing behind players that are less talented than him, especially on a team that had a top 5 pick? I hate to be a guy that sits on the fence but I think both are great and it’s totally situational.

[negguaryParticipant]

idk whether pop is just a great talent evaluator or a great player developer, or they both happen to complement each other, but somehow his players that no one saw coming outside of Duncan become stars or super stars! I feel that dejuante is just sitting back and soaking up all the knowledge pop can give him as well as player coaches at this point in their careers like tony and manu. This leads me to believe that he’s some how going to end up being one of the top pg’s in the league and the rest of us are going to be saying how did 28 teams pass on him lol 

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