Rob Dillingham

[FNG]

How's Chucky doing these days?!?

It was kind of a trick question, because as far as I can tell, Chuck Mencel and Frank Selvy were never actually teammates, at least on the Minneapolis Lakers...
[/quote

We have a winner…25 big bonus points to Tim!

Chuck goes by Charley now, and he’s still kicking at 90! You are correct that Charley and Selvey never played together, and actually selvey wasn’t with the lakers very long. Charley reminded me this morning that Frank once scored 100 points in a game (I think it was a college game)!

[FNG]

Rob led all rookies during Summer League in points created per game with 34.0. slightly ahead of Reed Sheppard.

[60WinTim]

Rob led all rookies during Summer League in points created per game with 34.0. slightly ahead of Reed Sheppard.

Yeah, I usually don't expect much contribution from rookies, but it's hard not to believe both our rookies will earn legit minutes in the rotation. Their skillsets and positions fit perfectly with the team's needs. It is an amazing opportunity for both Rob and TSJ.

[Monster]

I love Britt Robson’s old school insights on the NBA brand of basketball! It doesn’t sound like his take on Dillingham (as described by FNG) and Lip’s is all that different… a high ceiling PG that’ll likely take a little time to develop, and whose size is going to be an issue until it’s not. What exactly is being argued about here?

Britt is a bit of a drama queen - hence his comment about Dilly looking even smaller from the first row and his further comment about Dilly’s size impeding his effectiveness getting to the rim. I stood next to Dilly (6 inches away) on the tram and he didn’t look smaller than his combine measurements. Moreover, his size didn’t stop him from getting to the rim; he was just misfiring on his floaters and layups. Of course, it’s easier to finish when your 6’6, 225, but guys like Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, Rod Strickland, etc. have proven highly effective at finishing in spite of their small stature. It’s just a skill Dilly needs to perfect. So while Britt and I fundamentally agree on Dilly, I just don’t like Britt’s mini-dramatic narratives that exaggerate or mistake certain, albeit relative minor, things.

OMG. Thank you! Finally someone says the quiet part out loud. I thought I was the only one on here who doesn't follow Britt's every word like he's the Supreme Leader. I never understood it. He's spins stuff for clicks just like most writers these days. Not saying he's not entertaining at times. But his word is NOT the gospel!

I listened to all the Dane Moore Podcasts including this one last weekend. I absolutely disagree with one of Dane's takes on Leonard Miller being a center but It made sense how he arrived there based on the information at the time.

I'm not all in on everything Brit says either. It is amazing that he and Lip actually have arrived at the same evaluation of Dillingham but Lip is for some reason mad at Brit for how he got there. Lol Sorry Lip just giving you a hard time. Brit is the only person that has said Dillingham looked small in person. Various other experts have suggested his size will make him a bad defender next year. It's a legit concern and while I tend to think there is some reasons to feel more positive about his ability to do more than just score outside of the paint it's fair to wonder about some of his physical size being a problem.

I'll add that I don't think Brit says anything "just for clicks". If that was the case he would be likely be writing for one of the bigger outlets making than what he is now. He isn't some sell out. Instead he does his own thing which includes his work on the music scene. He has strong opinions and isn't afraid to share them. I get he can be annoying but I don't mind hearing what he has to say every once in a while. Like I said before I think he and Dane are an interesting duo and they don't agree a fair amount.

[Monster]

I love Britt Robson’s old school insights on the NBA brand of basketball! It doesn’t sound like his take on Dillingham (as described by FNG) and Lip’s is all that different… a high ceiling PG that’ll likely take a little time to develop, and whose size is going to be an issue until it’s not. What exactly is being argued about here?

I agree. Like Lip, Britt was quite high on Rob's potential...he loved his quickness and willingness to buy into the defensive culture. The only difference in their perceptions is Britt thought Rob's lack of bulk hurt him in getting to the basket in a straight line, like TJ was able to do.

I also like this article about Rob from Jonny Athletic:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/564992 ... Id=7709749

That’s a great article. Love Jon K! Watching Rob in Summer League and hearing TC praise Rob’s playmaking in college reminds me of Steph Curry when he entered the draft years ago.

I remember watching Curry a lot in the NCAA tournament when I was out in Vegas for the 1st round. He was known as a great shooter/scorer although he’s actually been a better 3-point shooting in the NBA than he was in college. Later that summer before the draft I watched a draft preview show on ESPN with Bobby Knight. Bobby used video to describe and evaluate Curry’s passing skills in college. It was a great clinic from one of the best basketball coaches in history. At the end of the video evaluation, Bobby declared emphatically that “Steph Curry is the best passer in college basketball.” I had never thought of Steph that way and few other had either. So while the draft-party gathering was stunned and deflated when Kahn picked Flynn instead of Curry because he seemed like the perfect scoring complement to Rubio’s playmaking, I was doubly deflated because I was convinced we lost more than a great shooter.

Fast forward to Rob Dillingham and I’m doubly elated by the Rob Dillingham pick after watching him in summer league and thinking about what TC said about Rob’s passing in college. Rob isn’t just a gunner who hit threes at a 43% clip in college (even better than Steph’s college percentage). He’s a natural PG with instincts, vision and related passing skills that can combined with his shooting prowess to make him special. All the former NBA players commenting during summer league praised Rob’s instincts and passing. I acknowledge that Rob has a pretty steep development curve ahead of him. He’ll need to get stronger, develop his finishing skills and adjust to the speed and size of the NBA game. But I’m more convinced now than on draft night that Rob has what it takes to be a really good and perhaps great NBA PG down the road. How much he can contribute next season remains uncertain, but I wouldn’t bet against him being a significant positive part of our rotation by the second half of the season.

Glad to see you are coming around to his ability as a playmaker. I think that's what makes me get really excited about him as a prospect. That last SL game he showed everything. There was a couple possessions I was like "Ok that was a play for the people that have made the Kyrie comps." That's a pretty high bar but he is a really gifted player and what I saw in the games I watched was not just a tunnel visioned bucket getter but a guy that seemed to have some feel of when to do his thing and when to let the game come to him and teammates. Summer league made me feel even more confident that he is a guy that can do enough on the floor to be a winning player.

[Lipoli390]

I agree. Like Lip, Britt was quite high on Rob's potential...he loved his quickness and willingness to buy into the defensive culture. The only difference in their perceptions is Britt thought Rob's lack of bulk hurt him in getting to the basket in a straight line, like TJ was able to do.

I also like this article about Rob from Jonny Athletic:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/564992 ... Id=7709749

That’s a great article. Love Jon K! Watching Rob in Summer League and hearing TC praise Rob’s playmaking in college reminds me of Steph Curry when he entered the draft years ago.

I remember watching Curry a lot in the NCAA tournament when I was out in Vegas for the 1st round. He was known as a great shooter/scorer although he’s actually been a better 3-point shooting in the NBA than he was in college. Later that summer before the draft I watched a draft preview show on ESPN with Bobby Knight. Bobby used video to describe and evaluate Curry’s passing skills in college. It was a great clinic from one of the best basketball coaches in history. At the end of the video evaluation, Bobby declared emphatically that “Steph Curry is the best passer in college basketball.” I had never thought of Steph that way and few other had either. So while the draft-party gathering was stunned and deflated when Kahn picked Flynn instead of Curry because he seemed like the perfect scoring complement to Rubio’s playmaking, I was doubly deflated because I was convinced we lost more than a great shooter.

Fast forward to Rob Dillingham and I’m doubly elated by the Rob Dillingham pick after watching him in summer league and thinking about what TC said about Rob’s passing in college. Rob isn’t just a gunner who hit threes at a 43% clip in college (even better than Steph’s college percentage). He’s a natural PG with instincts, vision and related passing skills that can combined with his shooting prowess to make him special. All the former NBA players commenting during summer league praised Rob’s instincts and passing. I acknowledge that Rob has a pretty steep development curve ahead of him. He’ll need to get stronger, develop his finishing skills and adjust to the speed and size of the NBA game. But I’m more convinced now than on draft night that Rob has what it takes to be a really good and perhaps great NBA PG down the road. How much he can contribute next season remains uncertain, but I wouldn’t bet against him being a significant positive part of our rotation by the second half of the season.

Glad to see you are coming around to his ability as a playmaker. I think that's what makes me get really excited about him as a prospect. That last SL game he showed everything. There was a couple possessions I was like "Ok that was a play for the people that have made the Kyrie comps." That's a pretty high bar but he is a really gifted player and what I saw in the games I watched was not just a tunnel visioned bucket getter but a guy that seemed to have some feel of when to do his thing and when to let the game come to him and teammates. Summer league made me feel even more confident that he is a guy that can do enough on the floor to be a winning player.

I’ve been pretty high on Dilly’s playmaking since the first game I saw him play in summer league. I remember noting that, while his shooting was bad that game, he had five or six assists. I recall being impressed those two games I watched live that he always to make the right pass, even if it wasn’t flashy. Coming home and watching replays of those games on TV and the last three games they played reinforced and enhanced my initial positive impression of his playmaking. The only negatives I saw in his game were finishing at the rim and defense. However, I was pleasantly surprised by his consistent defensive effort and he was actually better on that end than I thought he’d be. I expected him to have some trouble finishing at the rim because that was the one area offensively where his stats weren’t good. But as I’ve noted before, finishing is a skill Dilly can develop. Hard not to be excited about this guy.

[Monster]

That’s a great article. Love Jon K! Watching Rob in Summer League and hearing TC praise Rob’s playmaking in college reminds me of Steph Curry when he entered the draft years ago.

I remember watching Curry a lot in the NCAA tournament when I was out in Vegas for the 1st round. He was known as a great shooter/scorer although he’s actually been a better 3-point shooting in the NBA than he was in college. Later that summer before the draft I watched a draft preview show on ESPN with Bobby Knight. Bobby used video to describe and evaluate Curry’s passing skills in college. It was a great clinic from one of the best basketball coaches in history. At the end of the video evaluation, Bobby declared emphatically that “Steph Curry is the best passer in college basketball.” I had never thought of Steph that way and few other had either. So while the draft-party gathering was stunned and deflated when Kahn picked Flynn instead of Curry because he seemed like the perfect scoring complement to Rubio’s playmaking, I was doubly deflated because I was convinced we lost more than a great shooter.

Fast forward to Rob Dillingham and I’m doubly elated by the Rob Dillingham pick after watching him in summer league and thinking about what TC said about Rob’s passing in college. Rob isn’t just a gunner who hit threes at a 43% clip in college (even better than Steph’s college percentage). He’s a natural PG with instincts, vision and related passing skills that can combined with his shooting prowess to make him special. All the former NBA players commenting during summer league praised Rob’s instincts and passing. I acknowledge that Rob has a pretty steep development curve ahead of him. He’ll need to get stronger, develop his finishing skills and adjust to the speed and size of the NBA game. But I’m more convinced now than on draft night that Rob has what it takes to be a really good and perhaps great NBA PG down the road. How much he can contribute next season remains uncertain, but I wouldn’t bet against him being a significant positive part of our rotation by the second half of the season.

Glad to see you are coming around to his ability as a playmaker. I think that's what makes me get really excited about him as a prospect. That last SL game he showed everything. There was a couple possessions I was like "Ok that was a play for the people that have made the Kyrie comps." That's a pretty high bar but he is a really gifted player and what I saw in the games I watched was not just a tunnel visioned bucket getter but a guy that seemed to have some feel of when to do his thing and when to let the game come to him and teammates. Summer league made me feel even more confident that he is a guy that can do enough on the floor to be a winning player.

I’ve been pretty high on Dilly’s playmaking since the first game I saw him play in summer league. I remember noting that, while his shooting was bad that game, he had five or six assists. I recall being impressed those two games I watched live that he always to make the right pass, even if it wasn’t flashy. Coming home and watching replays of those games on TV and the last three games they played reinforced and enhanced my initial positive impression of his playmaking. The only negatives I saw in his game were finishing at the rim and defense. However, I was pleasantly surprised by his consistent defensive effort and he was actually better on that end than I thought he’d be. I expected him to have some trouble finishing at the rim because that was the one area offensively where his stats weren’t good. But as I’ve noted before, finishing is a skill Dilly can develop. Hard not to be excited about this guy.

The games I saw in college and his assist numbers there made me think he was a guy that was a guy that could actually play as a PG. As you outlined SL has only made an even better case for that. I think most of us assume he will probably gonna make 3's as a rookie so teams are gonna have to guard him out there. If Rob Dillingham is a 38% 3 point shooter next year...that's gonna open things up for him and other guys on the floor with him.

One of the reasons why Curry was able to play as a PG was being a threat from anywhere on the floor but especially from 3. Curry had various times in his career where he made strides as a PG whether that was in college (early on he was more of a pure scorer) or NBA where he had to learn to make the right plays when teams tried to force him to give the ball up. Curry is a pretty remarkable example of a player improving his game in a number of facets. One thing I remember about Curry his rookie year was he simply seemed to know how to play. There was a certain basketball instinct in him.

[KG4Ever]

I agree. Like Lip, Britt was quite high on Rob's potential...he loved his quickness and willingness to buy into the defensive culture. The only difference in their perceptions is Britt thought Rob's lack of bulk hurt him in getting to the basket in a straight line, like TJ was able to do.

I also like this article about Rob from Jonny Athletic:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/564992 ... Id=7709749

That’s a great article. Love Jon K! Watching Rob in Summer League and hearing TC praise Rob’s playmaking in college reminds me of Steph Curry when he entered the draft years ago.

I remember watching Curry a lot in the NCAA tournament when I was out in Vegas for the 1st round. He was known as a great shooter/scorer although he’s actually been a better 3-point shooting in the NBA than he was in college. Later that summer before the draft I watched a draft preview show on ESPN with Bobby Knight. Bobby used video to describe and evaluate Curry’s passing skills in college. It was a great clinic from one of the best basketball coaches in history. At the end of the video evaluation, Bobby declared emphatically that “Steph Curry is the best passer in college basketball.” I had never thought of Steph that way and few other had either. So while the draft-party gathering was stunned and deflated when Kahn picked Flynn instead of Curry because he seemed like the perfect scoring complement to Rubio’s playmaking, I was doubly deflated because I was convinced we lost more than a great shooter.

Fast forward to Rob Dillingham and I’m doubly elated by the Rob Dillingham pick after watching him in summer league and thinking about what TC said about Rob’s passing in college. Rob isn’t just a gunner who hit threes at a 43% clip in college (even better than Steph’s college percentage). He’s a natural PG with instincts, vision and related passing skills that can combined with his shooting prowess to make him special. All the former NBA players commenting during summer league praised Rob’s instincts and passing. I acknowledge that Rob has a pretty steep development curve ahead of him. He’ll need to get stronger, develop his finishing skills and adjust to the speed and size of the NBA game. But I’m more convinced now than on draft night that Rob has what it takes to be a really good and perhaps great NBA PG down the road. How much he can contribute next season remains uncertain, but I wouldn’t bet against him being a significant positive part of our rotation by the second half of the season.

Glad to see you are coming around to his ability as a playmaker. I think that's what makes me get really excited about him as a prospect. That last SL game he showed everything. There was a couple possessions I was like "Ok that was a play for the people that have made the Kyrie comps." That's a pretty high bar but he is a really gifted player and what I saw in the games I watched was not just a tunnel visioned bucket getter but a guy that seemed to have some feel of when to do his thing and when to let the game come to him and teammates. Summer league made me feel even more confident that he is a guy that can do enough on the floor to be a winning player.

After bricking through four games, he finally showed some potential in game 5. Maybe, he's turned the corner and can be a positive asset. What if the Wolves can make a move for a vet who can help the Wolves win now and RD is the sweetener to make it happen? It might be worth it.

[Monster]

That’s a great article. Love Jon K! Watching Rob in Summer League and hearing TC praise Rob’s playmaking in college reminds me of Steph Curry when he entered the draft years ago.

I remember watching Curry a lot in the NCAA tournament when I was out in Vegas for the 1st round. He was known as a great shooter/scorer although he’s actually been a better 3-point shooting in the NBA than he was in college. Later that summer before the draft I watched a draft preview show on ESPN with Bobby Knight. Bobby used video to describe and evaluate Curry’s passing skills in college. It was a great clinic from one of the best basketball coaches in history. At the end of the video evaluation, Bobby declared emphatically that “Steph Curry is the best passer in college basketball.” I had never thought of Steph that way and few other had either. So while the draft-party gathering was stunned and deflated when Kahn picked Flynn instead of Curry because he seemed like the perfect scoring complement to Rubio’s playmaking, I was doubly deflated because I was convinced we lost more than a great shooter.

Fast forward to Rob Dillingham and I’m doubly elated by the Rob Dillingham pick after watching him in summer league and thinking about what TC said about Rob’s passing in college. Rob isn’t just a gunner who hit threes at a 43% clip in college (even better than Steph’s college percentage). He’s a natural PG with instincts, vision and related passing skills that can combined with his shooting prowess to make him special. All the former NBA players commenting during summer league praised Rob’s instincts and passing. I acknowledge that Rob has a pretty steep development curve ahead of him. He’ll need to get stronger, develop his finishing skills and adjust to the speed and size of the NBA game. But I’m more convinced now than on draft night that Rob has what it takes to be a really good and perhaps great NBA PG down the road. How much he can contribute next season remains uncertain, but I wouldn’t bet against him being a significant positive part of our rotation by the second half of the season.

Glad to see you are coming around to his ability as a playmaker. I think that's what makes me get really excited about him as a prospect. That last SL game he showed everything. There was a couple possessions I was like "Ok that was a play for the people that have made the Kyrie comps." That's a pretty high bar but he is a really gifted player and what I saw in the games I watched was not just a tunnel visioned bucket getter but a guy that seemed to have some feel of when to do his thing and when to let the game come to him and teammates. Summer league made me feel even more confident that he is a guy that can do enough on the floor to be a winning player.

After bricking through four games, he finally showed some potential in game 5. Maybe, he's turned the corner and can be a positive asset. What if the Wolves can make a move for a vet who can help the Wolves win now and RD is the sweetener to make it happen? It might be worth it.

I think we can package him with Leonard Miller to get Wendell Moore back if we sweeten it with a 2nd rounder.