RealGM

Can a pick be protected in 2011 or unprotected in 2013.

I skipped 2012. Is that okay?

Seems like with the possibility of a lockout season that it might make sense.
Even if it doesn't make sense, is it legal? I never see it.

There are no limits to the amount of protection attached to any given year of a draft pick owed from one team to another. It is just usual practice for protection to either stay the same or become less restrictive from one year to the next.

Yeah it varies. As a Bulls fan, I know the pick they got from Charlotte last year for Tyrus Thomas is a top 14 protected pick this year, and devolves every year, culminating in a possible unprotected pick in 2015.