In an August interview with KFAN, Tim Connelly told Dan Barreiro that Rob Dillingham’s minutes would not be free in his rookie year. If he made a silly turnover or forced his shot instead of playing like a true point guard, he would “learn from the bench.”
The Minnesota Timberwolves had traded into the top 10 on draft night, selecting Dillingham with the No. 8 pick. It was a confident move from Connelly and his staff, who realized the team needed isolation scoring after Minnesota’s offense fizzled out in the Western Conference Finals.
Dillingham is in a unique situation. A player picked in the lottery rarely ends up on a championship-contending team. If they do, their team usually confines them to the bench in their rookie year. However, after draft night, Connelly told the media that Dillingham would have a role in Game 1. The Wolves needed his microwave scoring abilities and lost their only true backup point guards, Jordan McLaughlin and Monte Morris, in free agency.
However, that changed when Minnesota’s front office overhauled the roster by trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks four days before training camp in a deal centered around Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Suddenly, the Wolves went from a team relying on a 19-year-old who started one game at Kentucky to back up Mike Conley to a team that many said had the deepest roster in the NBA.
“We are going to have to rely on our young players,” Chris Finch said during media day. “Bringing them along throughout the course of the season so they can help us in meaningful games toward the end of the season. That is the plan.”
The Wolves needed to reduce Conley’s minutes this year. Before the KAT trade, their options were limited. However, bringing in DiVincenzo gave Finch a high-octane shooter capable of being a traditional point guard. DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker formed a respectable backcourt tandem off the bench, but fans still wanted to see Dillingham get minutes.
Finch didn’t allow Dillingham to prove himself until 12 games into the season. He had logged 18:45 total minutes in garbage time before getting his first opportunity in the rotation against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Fans roared when Dillingham checked in after two blowout wins at Target Center. They were confident that Dillingham deserved more minutes, but Finch wasn’t. He needed to see more from Rob, and Wendesay’s game was a step in the right direction for Dillingham to earn a semi-consistent role with the Wolves.
“I would like to get to a legit nine-and-a-half guys. Right now, we are probably at eight-and-a-half, so we have some work to do there,” Finch told the media regarding his rotation three games into the season. “Different circumstances have led us to not being able to do those things … I am trying to get guys’ minutes up, so when I am more comfortable with where I want guys’ minutes overall, then I will probably unlock other parts.”
Finch has always preferred a nine-man rotation, which has become more common recently in the NBA but is one less than teams ordinarily run. Part of Finch’s decision to keep a short rotation is because he has not always had a deep bench. Still, even when he has, Finch has chosen to keep his rotation at nine. Many thought Finch could expand to a ten-man rotation this season to keep Minnesota’s starters fresher and healthier for the postseason after they were fatigued against the Dallas Mavericks in the WCF.
However, Finch channeled his inner Tom Thibodeau and kept a tight group.
DiVincenzo (315 minutes), Naz Reid (300 minutes), and Alexander-Walker (290 minutes) have formed Finch’s bench. After that, the minutes drop considerably. Joe Ingles (26 minutes) started the year in the rotation as that half-man – typically playing two short stints.
However, his poor defense and an inability to make open shots forced Finch to try something new. He turned to Josh Minott (42 minutes) to fill that small rotational void. However, Finch has not felt confident enough to expand the rotation and consistently run a ninth player.
An eight-man rotation early in the year would not be a negative if the Wolves immediately picked up where they left off last season, but they haven’t.
Minnesota is 6-6 through the first 12 games, battling through the acclimation process with Randle and DiVincenzo. The Wolves prided themselves on consistency and defense last season. However, they just dropped back-to-back inexcusable games against the Portland Trail Blazers, and their defense has looked like a shell of its former self. More alarmingly, Minnesota’s attention to detail and on-court work ethic is not where a championship-contending team needs to be.
It’s time for Finch to shift things up.
Conley was resting on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday in Portland. Finch backfilled his 23.5 minutes per game by platooning them across the board and starting Alexander-Walker. The starters played more than their season average, and Finch went nine deep – rolling with Minott for one four-minute stint at the end of the first quarter and Dillingham for two stints.
Dillingham played seven straight minutes to open the second quarter. The Wolves built a 33-23 lead in the first quarter. Once Dillingam returned to the bench with five minutes remaining in the second, the Blazers cut Minnesota’s lead to 40-38.
“I thought he came in and gave us really good minutes there in the first half,” Finch told the media postgame regarding Dillingham. “I thought that was a point in the game where we could really have broken it open, but we weren’t able to do so.”
In Dillingham’s first shift, Portland outscored the Wolves 15-7, but that wasn’t Rob’s fault. He was quarterbacking Minnesota’s offense and generating quality looks, but his teammates missed them – shooting 2 of 12 (16.7%) from the floor.
Dillingham had two turnovers in the second frame, but he looked comfortable and confident running Minnesota’s offense after not playing in meaningful minutes since the preseason. He looked like a traditional point guard and played within the flow of the offense. Dillingham didn’t try to get his shot going at the expense of the offensive flow, which was not the case during the preseason.
“He has to start understanding the purpose of how he plays,” Finch told the media regarding Dillingham’s preseason performance. “He is searching a hard road right now and trying to get himself going too hard. [Dillingham needs to] play in the flow more and be a bit more of a distributor first … too much dribbling. And defensively, he is already giving up size and weight, so he has to figure out how to win the battle early and not foul.”
Dillingham would always need to play sound defense to be a productive NBA player and get minutes early in his career. He struggled defensively in the preseason but showed promising trends in Portland on Wednesday.
“Dillingham is going to get tested every night defensively,” Connelly told 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.”
The Wolves aren’t expecting Dillingham to be a great defender, but he can’t be a liability. It was a small sample size on Wednesday. Still, Dillingham gave Minnesota’s coaching staff reason to believe that he isn’t a defensive liability in shorts stints – offering solid pick-and-roll defense against Scoot Henderson (6’3”) and Dalano Banton (6’8”) in the second quarter.
Dillingham was a minus-13 in nine minutes, finishing with three points, no assists, and three turnovers on 1 of 2 from the floor. He had less of an impact during his 2:27 on the court to close the third quarter and struggled to defend Portland’s length on a few possessions, but Dillingham did enough to prove that he is ready for a role with the Wolves.
Finch needs to get creative and eventually lengthen the rotation. Dillingham won’t see his minutes suddenly shoot up to 12-plus per game, consistently playing lengthy stints. However, Rob’s willingness to lead the offense on Wednesday should be enough for Finch to consider using Dillingham in a situational role, similar to how the Wolves used McLaughlin last season.