A point guard is supposed to be the ultimate teammate.
He has to run the offense, read the defense, make sure the ball doesn’t stick, get everyone involved in the offense, and find time to pick the right spots to try and score. In the modern NBA, they must be an elite passer, a good shooter, and at least a competent defender for 30 to 35 minutes for 82 games a year. Being a good point guard in the NBA is like being a quarterback and middle linebacker while also usually being the smallest guy on the court.
These responsibilities make point guard one of the toughest jobs in professional sports, made all the more difficult if you’re also the youngest player on the team.
Rob Dillingham joins the Minnesota Timberwolves as a highly sought-after rookie in an interesting situation. The rookie out of Kentucky expected to go to a rebuilding team where he would have a chance to start immediately and grow with a young team over his first few years in the NBA. He almost had that opportunity when the San Antonio Spurs selected him eighth overall, giving him a dream pairing with Victor Wembanyama.
But that reality was short-lived.
Tim Connelly pulled off a draft day trade that brought Dillingham to Minnesota in exchange for a future first-round pick and a future pick swap.
He heads to a team coming off a Western Conference Finals run and a roster that is one of the deepest in the league. Instead of a rebuilding team immediately throwing him to the wolves, Dillingham will be raised by wolves on a team with championship aspirations. The 19-year-old will sit behind 37-year-old Mike Conley, who is entering his 18th season in the NBA and was a junior in high school when Dillingham was born.
It’s similar to young quarterbacks drafted to teams with established but aging starters. It feels like the Green Bay Packers’ last two starting quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love, who they took in the first round and then sat and learned before leading the team into the future.
Dillingham will have plenty of time to learn from one of the best point guards of this generation. Last season, at age 36, Conley played in 76 games and averaged 28.9 minutes per game. Last year, Conley’s primary backups were Monte Morris, Jordan McLaughlin, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in certain scenarios.
McLaughlin averaged 11.2 minutes per game, and Morris averaged 15.1 during his 27 games in Minnesota.
However, Dillingham likely starts the season ninth in Minnesota’s pecking order after trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, and draft capital. DiVincenzo could lend a hand as the primary ballhandler when Chris Finch wants to give Conley a rest and doesn’t want to put the load completely on the rookie. However, as the team’s No. 2 and only true backup point guard, Dillingham could end up higher in the rotational pecking order.
Dillingham came off the bench in all but one game during his lone season with Kentucky. Still, he lit up the SEC in a sixth-man role and scored 15.2 points per game on 44.4 percent from three. Dillingham will spark the Timberwolves bench that finished 21st in scoring last season. He’ll likely play between 10-15 minutes for Finch and the Wolves.
The Timberwolves have a history with highly drafted point guards. In 1996, the Wolves traded for the fourth pick and Stephon Marbury, who was expected to create a dynamic super duo with Kevin Garnett. Starbury was a hit right away, playing 34.7 minutes per game as a rookie and averaging 15.8 points (7.8 points per game) while helping the Wolves to 40 wins and their first playoff appearance.
They also took Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio fifth and sixth in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Flynn started 81 games and averaged 13.5 points per game as a rookie before a hip injury ended his career before it could take off. Rubio waited two years before coming to the NBA. Once he got there, an ACL tear and a lack of jump shot stunted Rubio from ever reaching the heights of his potential. Still, he had a beautiful career. Tom Thibodeau drafted Kris Dunn as the defensive ying to Rubio’s offensive yang. However, that lasted one season before the Wolves traded him to Chicago in the Jimmy Butler trade.
Dillingham is in a unique position for a lottery pick. He gets to sit and absorb all the knowledge from a great team filled with admirable veterans without being let loose to get baptized on the court by Jrue Holiday, Lu Dort, and Jaden McDaniels. But Dillingham will still get to shine and have the chance to play high-level championship basketball while still in his teens. He may not score 18 points per game on a 23-win team and throw errant lobs that Victor Wembanyama can’t even catch, but the slow play with Dillingham will be the best for his overall career development.
