The Wolves Really Need Rob Dillingham To Work…

The Wolves Really Need Rob Dillingham To Work…

rob Dillingham didn’t have a consistent or an overly successful rookie season but if the Minnesota Timberwolves want to stay competitive next season he’s going to have to be a really important piece for them not only did they give up multiple assets for the eighth overall pick to draft Dillingham in last season’s draft but his theoretical skill set is exactly what they need and they just need him to grow into that skill set as soon as possible with Mike Connley aging out and becoming more of a problem than a solution and no other point guard on this roster right now Dillingham is going to be super important going forward and again while his game has a ton of rough edges right now there’s the bones of a player there that make a lot of sense to plug up some of Minnesota’s biggest flaws now when you’re evaluating a player on this Timberwolves team the first point of call is how they can play off of Anthony Edwards obviously that means they have to be able to knock down catch and shoot looks when his man slides off him to show bodies at Ant like this that’s just kind of the bare minimum first rung of the ladder kind of thing to thrive on an Anthony Edwards team defenses are going to show these doubles and traps at Ant a lot leaving situations like this where two defenders are responsible for three scorers and making those shots is the most simple task an Anthony Edwards teammate needs to master again even if it isn’t coming directly from an Anthony Edwards assist you can see the defenders that Ants Gravity pulls into his vicinity and Dillingham is going to have to make those shots to capitalize on that and while Dillingham was a shaky shooter last season he finished his rookie year making just under 34% of his threes that base number doesn’t really account for his time next to Ant when Dillingham was on the floor next to Edwards he shot 48% from deep when Ant wasn’t out there with him he made just 26.5% of those threes so Dillingham needs to continue making these catch and shoot looks off Ant’s gravity but they did have Mike Connley Dante Devanchenzo and Natal Alexander Walker who could do that last season what they didn’t have was someone who could actually make something happen off the bounce alongside Edwards that’s what this team couldn’t find within its regular rotation last season and what they really need going forward in an ideal world that’s going to come from working off that same gravity that Edwards creates when defenders need to shift into the gaps here to provide that help defense dillingham is the only other guard on this roster who can actually get downhill and create for themselves like that right now again when two defenders are sitting on Edwards they need someone who can take advantage of that tilted floor and see this big crack in the defense as an opportunity to get to the rim with pace i think that speed is so important going forward for this team if defenses are going to continue bending toward Edwards they need someone who can use this closeout as an invitation to attack draw helpers toward them and then make plays as a scorer or a playmaker dillingham is far from the finished product in all areas of his game but not having that kind of player really hurt both Minnesota and Anthony Edwards last season and we saw it really mess up their offense all throughout the playoffs and especially in the Western Conference Finals without the speed to blow by defenders coming off the attention that Ant was getting makeshift point guards like Deven Chenzo and Alexander Walker really struggled to be anything but catch and shoot guys who couldn’t really provide any downhill scoring or playmaking to keep Minnesota’s offense churning along and punish a great defense like OKC’s for selling out to stop Edwards while Connley was completely neutralized as a scorer during the entire playoff run because he just couldn’t get past defenders or finish inside the ark at all now Rob Dillingham isn’t going to magically solve all of Minnesota’s downhill issues in year two but as of right now before we’ve seen any trades or swings from the front office he’s the guard they have who has the best chance to develop into that player and I think that’s why they used assets to go out and grab him in last season’s draft dillingham’s most valuable ability is that he plays with the handle to move and shake with the ball and the way he can get two feet in the paint off the dribble whether it’s playing off ant or creating it for himself Dillingham is pretty easily the second best player on this roster going downhill and that’s while acknowledging that his game is still super rough around the edges as you can see here Dillingham got into the paint at a far greater frequency per minute than any other guards on this roster and despite serious size and strength issues he was the best finisher among that group as well i think next season the Wolves are going to want to see more of Dillingham on these islands sizing up defenders and then getting into the paint for shots at the rim or floaters whether it’s in straight isolation situations or as a pick and roll scorer this is a dimension that they just didn’t have last season and it felt like it hurt them a bunch throughout the regular season and as the playoffs wore on and they got into those tougher matchups with defenses who were more equipped to take away Minnesota’s more one-dimensional scorers if Dillingham can keep continuing to grow as a playmaker out of these attacking situations as well that’s going to be another boost over Minnesota’s current guard crop if he can keep getting into the paint and the heart of the defense and forcing bodies to collapse in on him he can create more passing options and he’s got a knack for threading gaps with his vision i’m not totally convinced that Dillingham’s size is ever going to allow him to reach star status but for what the Wolves have right now in a crucial stage in their franchise history with Anthony Edwards at the helm they’ve got a downhill scorer playmaker and someone who can collapse a defense and that’s their best bet as a backcourt running mate for Ant right now so I think it’s probably going to be time to lean into that next season now that doesn’t mean that Dillingham is the perfect fit as a downhill option i think there was still plenty of times you could see that size at the rim still bothered him as a finisher and that he would get bumped off his spot more than you’d like to see but unless the Wolves are swinging for someone in the trade market I think they’re probably better off trying to develop that part of Dillingham’s game and trying to weave it into their future as a faster team who plays in a more modern way offensively the swing skill here for me is the pullup three dillingham was an electric shooter in college but like a lot of firstear point guards he was very hit and miss as a shooter off the bounce in his rookie season he has the look and feel of someone who can punish defenses for dipping under these screens but his shot mechanics are pretty inconsistent for anybody who wants to be an elite pull-up shooter at the top level if he can smooth out the kinks in his jumper and find that same sort of consistency as a shooter that he had in his college season that’s going to open up more opportunities to get downhill and really start to round out his scoring game again Rob Dillingham isn’t tailor made to be a star right now but there’s this outline of a player there that the Timberwolves could really use and could really use right away if they can somehow polish him into the player that he could be while insulating him defensively i think they have someone here who can add things to their roster that they just don’t have right now if you enjoyed this breakdown you can support House and Drows in the links below if not you can always like this video or subscribe to the channel to see more breakdowns like this one thanks again for watching

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