After trading for the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and selecting point guard Rob Dillingham, the expectation had to be that he would last longer than two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Instead, the now 21-year-old didn’t even last two full seasons before being traded to the Chicago Bulls.
On a recent episode of the Dane Moore NBA Podcast, Moore and Britt Robson sat down to discuss Timberwolves basketball at the All-Star break. On the topic of Chris Finch and Dillingham, Robson didn't hold back.
"Dillingham, obviously, that did not work at all. I think that is on Finch, quite frankly, not as much, but a lot of the reason why Dillingham lost his confidence and really didn’t flourish here. Part of it was situational, part of it was coaching," Robson said.
Many in the fanbase pined for more Dillingham playing time, but Finch never trusted him enough to allow him more court action.
Dillingham never received extended playing time with the Timberwolves
The Dillingham tenure with Minnesota came to an end on February 5 when the 2024 lottery pick was part of a deal that brought guard Ayo Dosunmu to the Wolves.
Trading Rob wasn’t unexpected being that he was outside of Minnesota’s rotation since mid-December. Bones Hyland usurped Dillingham in the pecking order, and Finch continued to play 38-year-old Mike Conley over Dillingham despite the former not producing much.
Robson seems to be correct in his assertion. Finch certainly played a role in Rob losing his confidence by pulling him after seemingly every mistake and giving him very short stints on the floor. In only one appearance this season with the Timberwolves did Dillingham receive 20 minutes of game time.
It’s also true that it’s never easy for a young player to come into an organization that has championship aspirations, as Minnesota does. Finch couldn’t let Dillingham go through his growing pains if it was going to cost the Timberwolves some games.
Altogether, in 84 regular season games over about 1.5 seasons for the Wolves, Dillingham posted averages of 4.0 points and 1.9 assists in 10.0 minutes per contest. In the end, a trade was best for both sides.
Despite being just 21 years old, it was fairly evident that trading Dillingham was best for both parties. Rob was in need of a fresh start, while Minnesota needed to find a way to bolster its bench.
Dillingham already, has a much longer leash with Chicago. In three appearances for them, he is averaging 11 points and 4 assists in 24.7 minutes. After a somewhat rough first showing with his new team, Dosunmu has settled down and performed quite well in his next two outings for the Timberwolves.