When Damian Lillard took over the Portland Trail Blazers in 2015-16, a “rebuild on the fly” mentality was adopted to keep the team competitive by plugging in players that worked to fill roles. Al-Farouq Aminu was pegged as a starting forward, Ed Davis was meant to be a reliable sixth man. The desire to go after known but steady quantities never left the thought of something more — Aminu and Davis are still more or less the players they entered as.
This strategy has also created a revolving door of players. Gerald Henderson to Allen Crabbe to Pat Connaughton, it’s become more of a “tag, you’re it!