SL Game 3 Wolves vs. Sixers

[Lipoli390]

Dilly misses another drive at the rim. He struggles to finish when under some duress.

He struggled finishing at the rim in college. So yes, this is a fundamental flaw in his game. I really liked him in the draft and still do. But he’s not Reed Sheppard. Reed will be an elite PG in the League. I’m not quite sure yet what Dilly will become.

[Q-is-here]

That corner 3 by Shannon looked absolutely pure. Man, if he can make that shot consistently, look out.

[Lipoli390]

I’ve been trying to tell you guys not to get so down on Miller. Tonight he’s justifying my faith in him.

[WildWolf2813]

Seriously has Dillingham made any shot within 5 feet of the basket all summer league. This is seriously concerning

He was 165 pounds in college and he's 165 pounds now. That doesn't get fixed in a couple of months. Adding 25 pounds will take time.

[Q-is-here]

Man, Miller really struggles to hold things down at Center. He has to play PF if he ever makes the rotation with the A-team.

[Q-is-here]

Seriously has Dillingham made any shot within 5 feet of the basket all summer league. This is seriously concerning

He was 165 pounds in college and he's 165 pounds now. That doesn't get fixed in a couple of months. Adding 25 pounds will take time.

Can his frame handle another 25 lbs.? One of the reasons his wingspan is so short is because his shoulders are narrow. I honestly don't see him adding more than 15 lbs or so on that frame.

[Lipoli390]

Seriously has Dillingham made any shot within 5 feet of the basket all summer league. This is seriously concerning

He was 165 pounds in college and he's 165 pounds now. That doesn't get fixed in a couple of months. Adding 25 pounds will take time.

Can his frame handle another 25 lbs.? One of the reasons his wingspan is so short is because his shoulders are narrow. I honestly don't see him adding more than 15 lbs or so on that frame.

I agree, Q. He’ll top out at around 180. Anything above that will compromise his quickness. But an extra 15 pounds of fast-twitch muscle will make a material difference in Dilly’s ability to finish and defend, provided he works really hard on his finishing skills and his defensive technique. So I still like Dilly’s chances long term. Unfortunately, I think it’s clear we have a PG problem. We have a 37 year old starting PG who has rarely played more than 65 games even when he was much younger and we don’t have a reliable backup PG. I like Nix or even Hifi as a 3rd PG for depth. But I don’t see either one or Dilly giving us what we need as Conley’s immediate backup. That’s a problem for Wolves version 1.0. McCain looks like a more NBA ready PG. He certainly has a more NBA-ready body than Dilly. We’ll see if he would have been the better choice for the Wolves in the short term. Over the long haul, however, for Wolves version 2.0 I’d still lean towards Dilly although I liked McCain, Carrington and Carter in the draft as long term prospects as well.

[Lipoli390]

By the way, I didn’t know Dilly was a poor finisher at the rim in college until after we drafted him. I probably would have rated him below McCain and Carter if I had known that. Poor finishing at the rim for a guard in college is a yellow cautionary flag for me unless the prospect is expected to be a 3 & D guy. If you’re drafting a guard in the top 10 you want his offensive game to be complete with both dribble penetration scoring and outside shooting. Ideally, you want him to also be a two-way player. It was a bit risky using the #8 pick to take a guy who lacked two of these three in college - scoring at the rim and defense. On the other hand, one year of college at age 18-19 merits a lot of leeway for development when you’re talking about a player with Dilly’s quickness, ball-handling skills and outside shooting ability. So there’s no cause to panic. At this point, I just think he needs to get used to the speed of the NBA game, gain some confidence and put on 15 pounds of muscle. He’s highly competitive so I’m still excited to see what he becomes over the next few years. In the meantime, what are we going to do about backup PG next season?

[WildWolf2813]

Seriously has Dillingham made any shot within 5 feet of the basket all summer league. This is seriously concerning

He was 165 pounds in college and he's 165 pounds now. That doesn't get fixed in a couple of months. Adding 25 pounds will take time.

Can his frame handle another 25 lbs.? One of the reasons his wingspan is so short is because his shoulders are narrow. I honestly don't see him adding more than 15 lbs or so on that frame.

That's something TC better be sure about because he's staking his future on that. As I said in a previous thread, at least he's not shy about going for it. If he shies away now, he could gain 40 pounds and it would all be a waste. I do think he can add size though.

[Q-is-here]

Man, now I know why Nix doesn't pass it all that much. They often end up in the opponents' hands! Weird player.