Mike Conley spoke on mentoring Rob Dillingham after Conley ran drills after practice with Dillingham and coach Pablo Prigioni.
“I’m just trying to keep him sane,” said Conley. “He wants to play right away, and you know it.
“So I’m just trying to stay in his ear and preach to him, tell him how important he is to our team. … He’ll be ready when his time comes.”
Dillingham made his NBA debut in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 113-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 2. The Wolves drafted him eighth over in this year’s NBA draft.
He only logged three minutes and eight seconds against backups at the end of the game. Still, Dillingham showed the potential that the Wolves saw during the draft. In Minnesota’s next game, against the Hornets, Dillingham logged another eight minutes and seven seconds, further showing that he may deserve rotation minutes.
The Timberwolves drafted Dillingham for his creation and ball handling that would theoretically give Minnesota another dynamic playmaker. The Wolves needed a player like Dillingham last year when they ranked 17th in offensive rating (114.6).
Offensive rating is an oversimplification of how an offense is performing. Still, getting a general look into how an offense performs over a long stretch is useful. Through seven games, the Wolves have slipped to 114.0, ranking 11th. However, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Joe Ingles are all new to Minnesota and log minutes in an 8.5-man* rotation.
That context influences how we evaluate Dillingham’s play in his limited exposure. His three-plus minutes in San Antonio highlighted a few key factors.
- Dillingham has a lot of shiftiness to his game, backing up his IG handle Robwitdashifts.
- He still needs to bulk up to be a capable NBA defender.
- As we saw in his short stint in San Antonio, Dillingham brings the playmaking and shot creation the Wolves desperately needed.
His first assist came in a transition opportunity when he drove to center court and passed back to a trailing PJ Dozier for three. Dillingham’s second assist was also in transition when he made the right read and got an easy assist to Josh Minott for a dunk.
Dillingham performed well and wasn’t exposed defensively. However, it’s hard to glean too much information besides his superb ball-handling and ability to make the right pass in transition.
However, Dillingham did enough in his eight minutes against the Charlotte Hornets to warrant asking Chris Finch his thoughts about his play after the game.
“I focus on the defensive end,” said Finch. “I want him to get into the ball and battling through screens and taking hits out there and keep coming. I thought that’s somewhere he’s really gotten better.”
As 6’3″, 175 lbs., Dillingham is a smaller guard in the NBA. Therefore, he must consistently show his ability to battle through screens before Finch can trust him with more consistent minutes.
That’s especially the case in Minnesota’s coverages. The guard must avoid most of the screen contact when they play drop coverage while sticking with the ball handler in a three-point opportunity.
However, that’s tricky because they do need to make some contract with the screener to force the screener in that position longer and prevent a straight-line roll to the hoop.
Furthermore, that’s important when the Wolves switch and stay in man-to-man coverage because Rudy Gobert often slides over to help prevent the ball handler from driving while the defender is fighting through the screen.
Still, Finch is seeing improvement, which is a testament to Dillingham’s work on the defensive end. Dillingham is also allowing Conley and Prigioni to coach him during practice.
“He’s from overseas, so he really knows basketball,” said Dillingham, regarding Prigioni’s influence on his development after practice. “It’s great to have him because he teaches me a lot. He also works with me and talks to me.”
Dillingham’s work with Prigioni after every practice well after the media leaves. That work paid off again against Charlotte as Dillingham scored his first NBA basket on a driving right-handed floating layup.
The basket looked oddly similar to what he does after practice with Prigioni.
Ultimately, Dillingham finished with four points and another two assists. The first came on a pick-and-fade play with Naz Reid. The second was a similar action to Luka Garza, where he rolled to the off-the-pick play for an easy layup.
Dillingham’s only blemish on the night was a turnover on a pick-and-roll play where he attempted to lob an entry pass over Garza’s shoulder that Jared Rhoden of the Hornets picked off.
“You see the game, he’s got a lot of skill,” said Finch.”He got off the ball tonight, made good decisions, and didn’t force it.”
It’s easy to see Dillingham’s appeal. He crosses players over like Allen Iverson and has a floater and three-point game. Even his personality is easy to enjoy as he thanked fans for cheating.
“Honestly, I’m just thankful to have fans and have them for real,” he said. “Just going to the table, and they’re cheering for me.”
Dillingham must work on his defense and add size to his frame to be a capable defender and prevent injuries to break the rotation. With the mentorship the Wolves have given him, it should only be a matter of time before we get to see his shifts again.
*An earlier version of this post misstated how many players are in Minnesota’s rotation. We regret the error.
