Rob Dillingham may have already earned his place in Timberwolves' rotation

From the moment his name was called on draft night, there has been a significant amount of hype surrounding Rob Dillingham. The Minnesota Timberwolves, loaded with veteran talent and in prime position to contend for a championship, knew that they needed to infuse some additional youthful talent into this team.

When draft night came around in June, Tim Connelly executed a bold move to trade up into the lottery. Sacrificing a first-round pick and a future pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs, he pulled off a decisive trade that allowed the Timberwolves to acquire Dillingham out of the University of Kentucky with the eighth-overall pick.

It was a risky play from Minnesota's management, but they had clearly found their guy. From the beginning, there was talk of Rob being able to earn minutes in the Timberwolves' rotation right away, with the idea being that he had a strong enough all-around skillset that could make him useful to a playoff team in year one.

Still, he was always going to have to earn his minutes. Dillingham has the potential to be the heir apparent to Mike Conley as this team's starting point guard, but the role was never going to be simply given to him without it being earned. With that said, Friday night's preseason opener looked to be solid proof that Rob has already put in the work to potentially earn a role as a regular contributor.

Dillingham was Minnesota's second-leading scorer on Friday

Against the Lakers, Dillingham scored more points than every Timberwolves player not named Josh Minott. He racked up 21 points and made three three-pointers, while sharing the ball to the tune of four assists as well. He finished the contest with a +10 plus/minus.

Yes, it is still just preseason. But many times in the past has a hyped-up rookie come out looking flat in his preseason debut, turning the ball over repeatedly or making other mistakes that make it evident he is not quite ready for the spotlight. The story on Friday was the opposite for Rob, as he looked as composed as any veteran player on the floor.

As we know, the work to earn a starting spot, a certain role or status as a regular rotation player often comes during the offseason. Making the necessary improvement to significantly elevate your status within a team during the season, especially on a high-level playoff squad like this one, is very difficult to do.

With all that in mind, it seems Dillingham's work is paying off already. With this monster performance in the books, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that he remains this aggressive and becomes the offensive spark plug this Timberwolves team needs.