Minnesota traded a pick swap in 2030 and an unprotected 2031 first-round pick with the Spurs to nab Rob Dillingham with the 8th pick in the draft this past summer. Clearly, they had a vision of Dillingham learning from Mike Conley and eventually forming an elite backcourt duo with Anthony Edwards that will still be elite when those picks come up in 2030.
The speculation was that Dillingham would play more of a sixth man role this season, but early on, he wasn’t part of the team’s rotation. He has seen minutes from time to time, but his last two games have been a glimpse into the future. Dillingham scored 14 points in 16 minutes against Boston on Sunday and followed that up with 12 points, five rebounds and seven assists against the Rockets on Tuesday night.
Mike Conley has missed the team’s last three games with a toe sprain, but he isn’t on the injury report for Wednesday’s game against the Kings. He should return to fill his starting role, so it’s unclear what Dillingham’s role will look like in this game and moving forward. He has clearly earned minutes, but there may not be enough for him to provide value in redraft leagues. It’s worth keeping an eye on their rotation tonight, but luckily, this is a dynasty column. Regardless of what his role looks like for the rest of this season, we can still get excited about his future.
Let’s take a look at his performance against Houston and see what went well and where he has room to improve after the best game of his young career.
First Quarter: 3:25, 0-of-1 FGs, 1 assist
Dillingham entered the game with 3:46 left in the first quarter and didn’t get off to a great start. He immediately got caught on a screen and gave up a triple to Fred VanVleet. His lone assist came within the flow of the offense. He swung the ball over to Naz Reid after a drive by Edwards, and Reid went in for a dunk. Dillingham’s lone shot attempt came when he was tossed the ball with five seconds left on the shot clock, which forced him to take a tough shot. He was able to get to the rim, where he ended up missing a left-handed floater over his Kentucky teammate Reed Sheppard. Overall, the first quarter of this game wasn’t much of anything. Screen navigation was an issue on a few plays, which isn’t surprising for a smaller rookie guard. He didn’t have the opportunity to create much, since Edwards and Julius Randle were both on the floor.
Second Quarter: 4:43, 0-of-2 FGs, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover
Dillingham was subbed out for the final 22 seconds of the first quarter for a defensive possession, but he went back in the game to start quarter two. He started to pick things up in this period, but he still wasn’t able to get any shots to fall. He opened up the quarter with an assist out of a pick and roll with Rudy Gobert, where he was able to find Naz Reid at the top of the key for a triple. Dillingham was able to get Sheppard behind him and recognized that Tari Eason was helping on Gobert’s roll to the basket. He was easily able to slip a pass to Reid, who knocked down a stepback three.
His second assist came a few minutes later. Dillingham had Eason on him, but he was able to use a pair of screens to force Jalen Green to guard him. That’s a much better matchup for the shift guard, and he was able to drive past Green and force Sheppard to help, which allowed him to kick the ball to Nickeil-Alexander Walker, who went right into a pullup jumper.
He had a few other solid plays that didn’t result in any points for Minnesota. Dillingham had a smooth double-cross that he kicked out to Donte DiVincenzo for a deep 3-pointer that didn’t go in. He was able to get a paint touch, draw in a help defender, and then kick out to a shooter.
Dillingham also drove past Sheppard for a right handed layup on the left side that should be an easy bucket for him. It just didn’t go in. He used quick bursts to get around Sheppard and showcased his elite change of pace, which will be highlighted more later on.
His only 3-point attempt didn’t go in, but it was a shot that he should shoot every time. VanVleet went under a ball screen, and Dillingham immediately went into a pullup three. That is a shot that will fall eventually, and when he starts hitting that consistently, teams will have to go over screens. That will open up the floor for him to use his quickness to get a numbers advantage and either get a layup, a floater or an assist.
On defense, the second quarter was a little better than the first, but it still wasn’t flawless. He had a play where he denied Sheppard a handoff and followed him on a cut, but he also allowed Sheppard to get an open 3-point attempt off of a handoff. It wasn’t a huge error, and Sheppard didn’t end up making the shot anyway.
Dillingham’s turnover came on a poor decision to try to toss a lob to Gobert. He had an open floater but decided to toss the ball up, which allowed Alperen Sengun to blow the play up. It was a good thought for Dillingham to get his center involved, but it wasn’t what the defense gave him.
Third Quarter: 4:37, 3 points, 1-of-4 FGs, 2 assists, 1 three
Dillingham opened his third quarter stint by missing back-to-back 3-pointers, though both were decent looks. He ended up getting a third one, which he was able to knock down for his first points of the game.
He followed that up with a play that reminds us that he is still a 19-year-old rookie. Dillingham, clearly amped up from hitting his first shot of the game, hit Dillon Brooks with a snatch dribble, followed that with a double between-the-legs dribble, and ended up going through his legs one more time on a drive that led into a contested missed floater. Of course, it looked incredibly smooth, but it wasn’t a high percentage shot with 11 seconds on the shot clock.
On defense, he got beat by Green on a give-and-go, but the help defense forced a turnover, which led to Dillingham getting an assist. It was a breakdown, but a heads up play from Reid turned it into easy offense.
Dillingham also had a really solid on-ball defensive possession on Green with about a minute left in the period. He turned up the pressure, which forced Green to swing the ball over to Brooks. Green dribbled the ball out when he saw that Dillingham was on him and likely thought that he was going to get a good shot up. However, Dillingham got up into him, and he wasn’t able to even think about where to go with the ball. As an undersized guard, that is the type of defense that Dillingham needs to play in order to stay on the floor.
Fourth Quarter: 10:49, 7 points, 3-of-4 FGs, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 three, 2 turnovers
Q4: 12:00-9:05
This is where things start to get fun. Dillingham played almost the entire fourth quarter and provided plenty of offense. He took advantage of defensive communication and knocked down an open triple early in the period that forced Houston to call a timeout.
He followed that up with another play that you expect a 19-year-old to make after forcing a timeout with a big 3-pointer. Dillingham tried to put the moves on Sheppard and coughed the ball up quickly.
Dillingham sat for about 45 seconds before coming back in the game and immediately found Gobert for a dunk. Edwards ran the PnR with Gobert and swung the ball over to Dillingham, who lobbed it to Gobert on a secondary drive.
He seemed to figure things out during this stretch. Dillingham remembered his quickness gave him an advantage, and he used it to get past VanVleet for this layup.
Sengun blocked this shot, but notice Dillingham’s change of pace on this play. He gets past VanVleet, slows up a bit, and then bursts forward for the shot. Props to Sengun on this one, because that wasn’t an easy shot for him to get up and swat.
Dillingham had one more bucket, which came off of a long offensive rebound. He hit Jabari Smith with a pump fake and drove in for a floater. The camera panned over to Mike Conley, who had a massive smile on his face. That wasn’t the first time that happened over the course of the game, but it felt like a teacher that was proud of his student. Having Conley invest in Dillingham will do wonders for his career.
Unfortunately, the fourth quarter wasn’t flawless. Amen Thompson stole the ball from Dillingham with less than a minute left and went down to get a layup that forced overtime. We’ll just attribute this one to one of the best defenders in the league making an elite play.
Dillingham responded though. He came down and got a layup off of a Gortat screen by Gobert, but it was waved off after Gobert was hit with an offensive foul. Still this was another example of Dillingham’s elite change of pace.
Overtime: 54 seconds, 2 points, 1-of-2 FGs
Despite an excellent fourth quarter, Dillingham didn’t re-enter the game until it was basically already over. He hit a mid-range shot with a few seconds left, but nobody was even attempting to play defense with the game already over.
Summary
This was an impressive showing from Dillingham. Not that it’s a new revelation, but Dillingham’s change of pace is special and will separate him from other young point guards. He made some impressive passes and some bad decisions. He hit some big shots, missed some easy shots and took some bad shots.
The flashes in his game are incredibly fun, but the mistakes come with a young player with a playstyle like Dillingham. We’ll see how he continues to develop, but his production over their last two games against some elite perimeter defenders is encouraging. He has room for growth in areas that young point guards are expected to struggle in, but the twitchiness to his game isn’t something that can be taught.
Hopefully, Dillingham earned a larger role in the rotation, and he’ll continue to get opportunities as the season progresses. However, this performance was enough to keep dynasty managers happy for a few months.
Stats via NBA.com/stats
