The excuse is that this team seems unwilling to call a spade a spade and set their sights on the future of this franchise. We'd rather give minutes to the Rudy Gay, Patty Mills, Gorgui Dieng, and Drew Eubanks of the world than let the guys who we spent draft capital on play minutes in order to learn, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes.
This FO would rather hold on to guys who we know aren't in our future plans--and then buy them out mid-season to go ring chase--than trade them when they have a semblance of value.
Find me one guy who was picked in the 1st round and had their development slow-walked like Pop has Luka, Lonnie, etc. and ended up becoming a All Star level player. I literally don't think there is an example of this "strategy" working.
Especially considering there pretty much is no D-League this year, and we are an early first round exit at best, Pop giving minutes to guys in their mid to late 30s at the expense of the youth is genuinely inexcusable.
Somehow this franchise which was for two decades plus championship oriented has decided the ultimate goal is literally just making the playoffs. It's an insult to the fans.