Rob Dillingham, You Are Cleared for Takeoff

The Timberwolves have brought along the No. 8 overall pick at his own pace, but Rob Dillingham’s work ethic and natural ability have quickly become a necessary part of the rotation.

On June 26, Minnesota Timberwolves fans headed into draft night expecting little for a team coming off a euphoric trip to the Western Conference Finals. President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly ushered in a reminder to keep your head on a swivel as he rifled up the draft boards to select Rob Dillingham out of Kentucky with the #8 overall pick. The shifty guard with a penchant for wizardry with a basketball ignited excitement within a fanbase still nursing a hangover from the 2024 NBA playoffs.

Dillingham’s natural talent with the ball is undeniable. His handle with the basketball transformed his one-on-one matchups to resemble a Harlem Globetrotter show. Unsurprisingly, Dillingham’s flashy play instantly won over the Timberwolves faithful, who anxiously anticipated his NBA debut.

However, Chris Finch and the rest of the Timberwolves coaching staff are in no rush to toss Dillingham into the deep end of the NBA waters. Instead, opting to hone Dillinghams’s raw ability into a serviceable year-one role. With the luxury of housing 17-year veteran Mike Conley on the roster and assistant coach Pablo Prigioni eager to take the rookie guard under his tutelage, the Wolves found themselves with the perfect ingredients to weave a developmental cocoon for their dynamic rookie.

Coming into the league, the negatives on Dillingham’s scouting report begin and end on the spunky guard’s stature. Clocking in at 6’1”, 164 lbs, and complete with a mere 6’3” standing reach, there is no disputing the simple fact that Dillingham is a small NBA guard. Immediately, most will conclude that the former Wildcat would have limited potential on the defensive end of the court. While crafty, scoring against the athletic behemoths of the NBA is a feat that takes time to understand.

Time, fortunately, is something the Timberwolves and their talented roster had the luxury of when it comes to the needed contribution from their prized rookie. With a clear top 8 established, the Timberwolves’ focus was to get their new-look roster and much-needed reps together to start the season. Dillingham was left preparing for his moment in his developmental cocoon. Studying the Timberwolves’ defensive concepts and soaking up lessons from his mentor and coaching staff.

The slow approach to Rob’s development and investment in teaching NBA defensive concepts and playmaking appears ready to pay dividends.

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

The Surprising Defense

Charlie: In an August interview with KFAN, Tim Connelly explained to Dan Barreiro that Dillingham’s minutes would not be free his rookie year. He would “learn from the bench” if the No. 8 overall pick “missed a defensive assignment.” That statement came under the pretense that Dillingham would be in the rotation on day one. Rarely do championship-contending teams make selections in the lottery round, but when they do, there is much more pressure on the rookie to succeed in an often smaller role off the bench.

“Really just watching in practice and understanding everything, [such as] the different game plan for each team,” Dillingham explained following Minnesota’s loss Sunday against the Celtics. “When I go out there, I have to be able to go through with it because if I go in there and mess it up for everyone else, what am I doing in there? I’m really just trying to make sure I get everything right and play as hard as I can.”

Dillingham receiving meaningful minutes was always going to come down to his defense. Connelly and his staff knew they were drafting one of the best scorers in the 2024 class, but they weren’t sure the kind of defender the undersized teenager would be.

“With Dillingham, he is going to get tested every night defensively,” Connelly further explained to Barreiro in August. “He is a young point guard, maybe the most talent-rich position in the league. There is nowhere to hide, and we are a defensive team.”

It has taken longer than most fans would have hoped for Dillingham to carve out a spot in the rotation, but he has seen meaningful minutes in the last six games, quickly proving to Finch and his staff that he is ready to become a consistent fixture of the rotation.

He’s made his point by playing consistent defense at a level that would surprise most.

The Wolves haven’t expected nor required Dillingham to be a prolific defender. However, he needed to figure out how to avoid being a defensive liability. Most of that boils down to how he reacts to what the opposition throws in his face. Teams will naturally target a 19-year-old undersized rookie — typically in screening situations — on offense. How Dillingham prepared for those situations and reacted to them would have either sent him back to the bench or empowered him to the semi-consistent role he is currently playing under.

“Coach tells us before. He tells me before each play what I do on each pick,” Dillingham explained when a reporter asked him about his switching defense. “[Depending] on who sets the pick and who has the ball, I calculate what I have to do.”

Seven games into the unofficial start of his rookie year, Dillingham has been playing defense at a level that clearly shows the work he is putting in behind the scenes, and it all starts with his screen navigation.

You don’t need to be a big guard to defend pick and rolls/pick and pops productively. It is all about working the angles and remaining persistent to fight over the screens or drop back if that is what the team’s coverage is.

Above, we see Dillingham shift past a Donovan Clingan (7-foot-2) screen, stay attached to the hip of Delano Banton (6-foot-5), and put forth a shot-impacting contest. Not dying on screens — especially against big players — simply comes down to effort, which isn’t something you can teach. Dillingham has been wide-eyed on defense over the last three weeks in the best possible way.

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Off of his screen navigation, Dillingham rarely misses switches, and when he has been involved in switching miscues, they have not usually been his fault. He looks prepared for every situation, which is very much a rarity in rookies. Dillingham knows when to stay on his man, switch, or hedge the screen. Those little, split-second decisions are another testament to a rookie living in the film room, soaking up what the coaches teach him like a sponge and studying the playbook.

“What I love about Rob is he wants it,” Anthony Edwards said following Sunday’s loss in Boston. “He’s one of those players who wants to be really, really good right now. That’s what I am in love with. He reminds me of myself when I was a rookie.”

High IQ pick-and-roll defense has been a constant of Dillingham’s defense thus far. The sample size is small, and his defensive role is matchup-dependent. Still, the potential is there, and the promising flashes he is showing are quickly becoming something Finch can rely on. Dillingham hasn’t been a defensive liability during his 74 total minutes over the last couple of weeks, and much of that success stems from him buying in on defense and the behind-the-scenes work he’s putting in with Prigioni and Minnesota’s coaching staff.

“Pressuring,” Dillingham responded when a reporter asked him where he’s improved the most on defense. “I feel like I could always play a little defense, but I didn’t know how to pressure without letting someone go right by me. Really, just pressuring and still being able to be in front.”

Dillingham has been a straight-up annoying on-ball defender since his emergence into the rotation — bringing a combination of speed, body control, and active hands to each one-on-one battle he faces. Opponents are shooting 16 of 38 (42.1%) from the floor and 6 of 16 (37.5%) from three-point range against him this season. While those splits are impressive, they don’t even paint the entire picture of how good Dillingham’s defense has been.

Above, we see Jrue Holiday try to back cut Rob, but the rookie reads the fake perfectly, forcing Holiday to retreat and eventually post up Dillingham.

Could Holiday have continued to back down Dillingham? Possibly, but Rob did his job — offering resistance through his lower body with potential reinforcements waiting to assist surrounding him. Before Holiday migrated to the paint, Dillingham was up in coverage, pestering the 15-year veteran with those active hands.

Here, Jalen Green gets Naz Reid to bite on a stutter step and back cuts what would have most likely been a momentous rise and poster over Rudy Gobert if Dillingham had his back turned and followed Amen Thompson. However, the teenager was sniffing out the play from its inception. He walled Green up, forcing the 18-point-per-game scorer to recollect himself and attempt an isolation attack against Dillingham. Still, to no avail — Rob’s aggression forced Green to give the ball up to Dillion Brooks with the shot clock dwindling.

It was the unmemorable setup to one of the loudest plays of the night on the other end.

Later in the game, Dillingham picked up the Fred VanVleet assignment at halfcourt. Before Alperen Şengün came to set the high pick-and-roll, Dillingham was already flustering VanVleet with extremely active hands — consistently forcing Fred to redirect his dribble. As VanVleet attacked, Rob kept him off balance with — again — physical low-body defense. Minnesota collapsed the paint, which led to the ball finding Şengün above the break. The second Şengün pump faked and turned his back to Julius Randle, Dillingham flew over and poked the ball free, ultimately leading to a Houston turnover.

Rob did his job; he could have switched to Thompson. But instead, he played free safety — yet again going above the call of duty and playing defense until the possession was over, never checking out. Not even momentarily.

The Timberwolves have been outscored by seven points with Dillingham on the floor this season. However, they have a 113 defensive rating — slightly above the team’s season average — and are holding opponents to 30.3% from deep with the rookie playing. At first, Dillingham’s defense was flashes of what could be. But now, his defense has rapidly grown to be a constant. Connelly and the Wolves were concerned about his defense, but he has shined on that side of the floor. Finch’s confidence in Rob is growing, and so are his minutes, largely because the rookie hasn’t been a defensive liability.

Tim: Rob’s growth as a defender in his short time here is a testament to his coachability and desire to succeed. Expecting an undersized rookie guard to be a positive on the defensive end will result in disappointment, but demonstrating a commitment to the overall team concept with unwavering effort is a great place to start. As Charlie mentioned, Rob’s commitment to staying attached to his man and fighting through screens is about determination.

Dillingham’s size will always be a target for opposing offenses to attack, and the Boston Celtics gave a preview of how teams can utilize switches to put Rob in mismatch situations. In the clip below, Rob starts the possession matched up on Pritchard, prompting the Celtics to utilize Tatum as the screener to force Dillingham and Alexander-Walker to switch. The result is Rob caught trailing a bigger Tatun rolling to the rim where Pritchard can easily dump the ball overtop the smaller Dillingham. The Defense collapses on Tatum, who makes the easy pass to Tillman to get the Timberwolves’ defense in the spin cycle. Minott overcommits to a Pritchard drive,e leaving sniper Sam Hauser wide open on the perimeter for a routine trey.

It’s an open pass due to the size differential between Rob and Tatum. Teams with talented wings will look to exploit matchups like this to warp the Timberwolves’ defense, and one rotational mistake will spell trouble. Now, Rob’s effort level to stay attached and do what he can helps muck up the easy lay-up at the rim, but when Dillingham is on the court, the Wolves’ margin for error will resemble a tight rope. As long as Dillingham’s commitment to make his rotations and stick to his man remains, the pathway to a functional defense with him on the court is a legitimate possibility.

The Offense, of Course

Charlie: Dillingham’s persistent defense enables his offense simply because his defense hasn’t forced Minnesota’s coaching staff to bench him. In fact, Finch played Dillingham for 10:49 minutes in the fourth quarter on Tuesday against the Rockets, giving him less than a minute-long break in the middle of the period.

Three weeks after not being in the rotation, Dillingham was so impactful to the Wolves’ comeback push in the second half that Finch couldn’t take him off the floor.

Poetic.

“Probably towards the end of the game,” Dillingham responded when a reporter asked when his offense started to feel instinctual. “Once I hit a few shots, got an assist, and got the alley-oop to Rudy. After that, [I] felt good — just playing freely.”

Dillingham’s offense has evolved over the last three weeks, corresponding with his confidence. Rob played with a heavy pass-first mindset in his first few meaningful outings. Above, we see some passing highlights from his first meaningful stint of the season (November 13 at Portland). Dillingham didn’t record an assist that night, but the offense flowed through him, and he was generating good looks.

Over the next two games, Dillingham still had yet to record an assist. However, that wasn’t because he was frequently turning the ball over or hiking up ill-advised shots. Instead, his teammates weren’t cashing in on the looks Rob created for them.

Minnesota’s splits (excluding all of Dillingham’s attempts) over those three games:

• vs. Trailblazers — 4/16 FG (9:23 minutes)
• vs. Kings — 3/7 FG (3:15 minutes)
• vs. Suns — 3/6 FG (5:33 minutes)
• Totals — 10/29 FG (34.5%) in 18:11 minutes.

It wasn’t until Sunday’s game in Boston that Dillingham tapped into those microwave-scoring abilities Kentucky fans saw in 2023-24.

The Wolves were missing Mike Conley (left-grade toe sprain) and desperately needed a vibe reset after their 110-105 road loss against the Toronto Raptors, where emotions boiled over. Dillingham played 15 minutes in Conley’s absence on the historic TD Garden parquet floor. Sunday was the biggest stage in Dillingham’s young career, and he attacked it head-on, finishing with 14 points on 6 of 10 from the floor and 2 of 4 from deep.

Minnesota fell to its fifth loss in seven games on Sunday, but Dillingham continued his assent up Finch’s rotational totem pole. He looked confident and comfortable against the Celtics. That promising success came to a head on Tuesday against the Rockets, where he hung 12 points and 7 assists on 5 of 13 from the floor and 2 of 5 from deep on the scoreboard, much to the enjoyment of the Target Center crowd, who gave him a Naz Reid-level ovation when he subbed into the game for the first time.

Dillingham had complete control over the offense on Tuesday, especially in the second half when the Wolves stormed back from an 18-point deficit to force overtime. The most critical stretch during that comeback push came at the end of the third quarter.

Finch closed the final 4:37 minutes of the third with Dillingham, Edwards, Alexander-Walker, Reid, and Gobert. During that stretch, the Wolves outscored Houston 14-4, recording a +111.2 NRTG (!!), 155.6 ORTG, and a 44.4 DRTG. Minnesota’s defense locked down, and Dillingham pushed the pace in a controlled fashion, something that Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo haven’t been able to do this season.

Dillingham settled into a groove in the fourth after shooting 1 of 7 over the first three quarters. In the final frame, Dillingham’s offense became instinctual, scoring seven points on 3 of 4 from the floor and dishing out two assists.

Tuesday’s loss was the final domino to fall. Finch must get desperate with his team losing six of their last eight and dropping below .500 on the season. The Timberwolves need a natural point guard on the floor for a full 48 minutes. No exceptions, at least for now. Dillingham has been patiently working behind the scenes to be ready for this exact moment. The opportunity has come up quickly, but Rob continues to respond well to everything thrown his way, and Minnesota is running out of options to unlock its offense.

Conley returned to the lineup Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings, logging 32 minutes. Finch mentioned pregame that Dillingham “earned more minutes in the rotation even with Conley.” However, the rookie played only five minutes. Part of that was because the Wolves were finally successful with the non-PG lineups (either Alexander-Walker or DiVincenzo at the one). Minnesota outscored Sacramento by six after the Wolves were outscored by 40 total points under the non-PG lineups over the previous five games.

Tim: The Timberwolves have lost their last four contests, a stretch during which the team has felt disconnected. Veteran point guard Mike Conley is on the sidelines with a left toe strain, so Nickiel Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo have been tasked with running the Timberwolves’ offense. When playing with the starters of Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert, let’s take a look at how the two combo guards have fared:

Nickiel Alexander-Walker – 106.6 Offensive rating and a 101.6 Defensive rating, with a paltry 0.89 assist-to-turnover ratio and a +5 net rating overall.

Donte DiVincenzo – 100 Offensive Rating, 119.3 Defensive Rating, 1.48 AST/TO ratio, and a -19.3 overall net rating.

While Nickiel’s minutes have featured outstanding defensive play, both players have struggled immensely to quarterback the offense. This begs the question, why continue to play two players as ball handlers who are obviously playing out of position?

Rob Dillingham’s emergence sparks optimism that you can return both Nickiel and Donte to off-ball roles. Dillingham’s ability to get past the first line of defense and get the ball moving injects life into an offense that has felt cold and stagnant.

Rob provides a legitimate rim threat that the defense can’t ignore. His ability to handle pressure and utilize his quickness to probe the defense is a skillset the Timberwolves have sorely lacked this season. With Dillingham at the controls, DiVincenzo and Alexander-Walker move back into an off-ball role. Simply put, 48 minutes of Mike Conley and Rob Dillingham puts the entire guard and wing rotation back into their natural positions.

What a concept! Guys playing their natural position is a recipe for success.

Now, it is important to remember that Dillingham is a 19-year-old rookie. This is going to come with inconsistencies and growing pains. As phenomenal as Dillingham was in the Celtics and Houston games against the respective #8 and #3 defenses, the young phenom struggled to make his mark against the Kings. Rob played 5:32 total minutes and did not get a shot up; it’s a learning moment for the young guard, playing in the first back-to-back of his young career. Dillingham committed two ill-advised turnovers in his five minutes on Wednesday.

That said, it’s been an impressive two-week stretch for the rookie, and if you’re Chris Finch, there is no putting the genie back into the bottle. Dillingham can play, and his game directly addresses a major problem area at the lead guard spot behind Mike Conley. Expect to see more of the dynamic rookie going forward as he builds on his backup point guard role. Rob Dillingham, you are cleared for takeoff!