Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:45 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:08 pm The games are coming fast and furious down in Iowa! They played Western Conference leaders Mexico City Capitanes tonight and won 113-104. Rocco didn't put up big numbers but had a solid 17 points, 11 rebs, 3 assts, and 2 blocks. He was a team-leading +21 in 31 minutes.

P.S. The Wolves have had a three game home stand in Des Moines. Why the f*ck isn't Dillingham down there getting minutes!?! I couldn't agree more with those of you begging for him to get real minutes and experience playing in Iowa. And he could be developing chemistry with Rocco to boot! That pick and subsequent lack of development is 100% on Connelly. What a colossal mistake.

Makes me think there is a trade lined up...

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:34 pm

60WinTim wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:45 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:08 pm The games are coming fast and furious down in Iowa! They played Western Conference leaders Mexico City Capitanes tonight and won 113-104. Rocco didn't put up big numbers but had a solid 17 points, 11 rebs, 3 assts, and 2 blocks. He was a team-leading +21 in 31 minutes.

P.S. The Wolves have had a three game home stand in Des Moines. Why the f*ck isn't Dillingham down there getting minutes!?! I couldn't agree more with those of you begging for him to get real minutes and experience playing in Iowa. And he could be developing chemistry with Rocco to boot! That pick and subsequent lack of development is 100% on Connelly. What a colossal mistake.

Makes me think there is a trade lined up...

I said this in the other thread but I actually believe it based on every other wolves draft pick
1) dilly and/or his representation do not want to play in Iowa
2) they are afraid to kill the last remaining of his trade value
3) afraid to get hurt before the trade deadline next Thursday

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:34 pm

60WinTim wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:45 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:08 pm The games are coming fast and furious down in Iowa! They played Western Conference leaders Mexico City Capitanes tonight and won 113-104. Rocco didn't put up big numbers but had a solid 17 points, 11 rebs, 3 assts, and 2 blocks. He was a team-leading +21 in 31 minutes.

P.S. The Wolves have had a three game home stand in Des Moines. Why the f*ck isn't Dillingham down there getting minutes!?! I couldn't agree more with those of you begging for him to get real minutes and experience playing in Iowa. And he could be developing chemistry with Rocco to boot! That pick and subsequent lack of development is 100% on Connelly. What a colossal mistake.

Makes me think there is a trade lined up...

I said this in the other thread but I actually believe it based on every other wolves draft pick
1) dilly and/or his representation do not want to play in Iowa
2) they are afraid to kill the last remaining of his trade value
3) afraid to get hurt before the trade deadline next Thursday

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 12:25 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:34 pm

60WinTim wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:45 pm

Makes me think there is a trade lined up...

I said this in the other thread but I actually believe it based on every other wolves draft pick
1) dilly and/or his representation do not want to play in Iowa
2) they are afraid to kill the last remaining of his trade value
3) afraid to get hurt before the trade deadline next Thursday

This is still on TC.

There are no reports and no evidence that Dilly’s agent is pushing against Dilly playing at Iowa and even if that speculation is right it doesn’t matter. The Wolves have Dilly under contract. They can assign him to Iowa and if the coach there puts him on the court, he’ll play. Does anyone really think Dilly would refuse to play there? Imagine how that would hurt his reputation, which is one reason why I doubt his agent is pushing against the assignment. Dilly’s agent is not going to hold Dilly out if assigned to Iowa.

I don’t see how Dilly playing at Iowa further diminishes his trade value. Dilly’s trade value is currently about as low as it can be for a recent #8 pick. If anything, a successful stint in Iowa would likely enhance his value. If they’re afraid Dilly will get hurt, they wouldn’t have given him the 5 minutes they gave him recently in garbage time.

My sense is that they want to have Dilly practice against his NBA teammates and keep a close eye on him, which makes some sense given that they traded up to #8 to get him. But I still think that’s a mistake. He needs significant, consistent playing time to get a rhythm, further develop his skills and gain some confidence.

Sometimes we all tend to overthink things. Finch made it clear in the recent stakeholder meeting that the rotation will get tighter from here on out. Of course, that’s consistent with how we know Finch manages his roster. We also know that Finch does not like to play young players and keeps them on a really short leash. We saw that with Minott and Garza both of whom are getting far more playing time for a Celtics team battling for the Eastern Conference title. There’s no mystery or intrigue here. There’s no pending Dilly trade. This is just Finch being Finch, enabled by TC. It’s poor roster management and a serious organizational flaw in my view. it will ultimately stifle this team’s development over time as we move forward with minimal draft capital. Having traded up to #8 for Dilly, this organization should be prioritizing Dilly’s development. The head coach and front office should be fully aligned on that mission and if alignment means assignment to Iowa then so be it. Simply not playing Dilly when Conley often looks like a corpse is bad enough. Not sending Dilly to Iowa is unacceptable and there is no credible excuse.

I actually think Dilly should be getting more minutes, more consistently, with the NBA Wolves, but I can also see the risk of doing so and that suggests the best course is probably getting Dilly major minutes in Iowa. If Dilly becomes the player I think he can be, it will be a couple years before we see it and that aligns well with the development of Rocco and Beringer - the next generation who can contribute significantly while Ant, Jaden and Naz are in the heart of their prime career years.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:10 am

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 12:25 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:34 pm

I said this in the other thread but I actually believe it based on every other wolves draft pick
1) dilly and/or his representation do not want to play in Iowa
2) they are afraid to kill the last remaining of his trade value
3) afraid to get hurt before the trade deadline next Thursday

This is still on TC.

There are no reports and no evidence that Dilly’s agent is pushing against Dilly playing at Iowa and even if that speculation is right it doesn’t matter. The Wolves have Dilly under contract. They can assign him to Iowa and if the coach there puts him on the court, he’ll play. Does anyone really think Dilly would refuse to play there? Imagine how that would hurt his reputation, which is one reason why I doubt his agent is pushing against the assignment. Dilly’s agent is not going to hold Dilly out if assigned to Iowa.

I don’t see how Dilly playing at Iowa further diminishes his trade value. Dilly’s trade value is currently about as low as it can be for a recent #8 pick. If anything, a successful stint in Iowa would likely enhance his value. If they’re afraid Dilly will get hurt, they wouldn’t have given him the 5 minutes they gave him recently in garbage time.

My sense is that they want to have Dilly practice against his NBA teammates and keep a close eye on him, which makes some sense given that they traded up to #8 to get him. But I still think that’s a mistake. He needs significant, consistent playing time to get a rhythm, further develop his skills and gain some confidence.

Sometimes we all tend to overthink things. Finch made it clear in the recent stakeholder meeting that the rotation will get tighter from here on out. Of course, that’s consistent with how we know Finch manages his roster. We also know that Finch does not like to play young players and keeps them on a really short leash. We saw that with Minott and Garza both of whom are getting far more playing time for a Celtics team battling for the Eastern Conference title. There’s no mystery or intrigue here. There’s no pending Dilly trade. This is just Finch being Finch, enabled by TC. It’s poor roster management and a serious organizational flaw in my view. it will ultimately stifle this team’s development over time as we move forward with minimal draft capital. Having traded up to #8 for Dilly, this organization should be prioritizing Dilly’s development. The head coach and front office should be fully aligned on that mission and if alignment means assignment to Iowa then so be it. Simply not playing Dilly when Conley often looks like a corpse is bad enough. Not sending Dilly to Iowa is unacceptable and there is no credible excuse.

I actually think Dilly should be getting more minutes, more consistently, with the NBA Wolves, but I can also see the risk of doing so and that suggests the best course is probably getting Dilly major minutes in Iowa. If Dilly becomes the player I think he can be, it will be a couple years before we see it and that aligns well with the development of Rocco and Beringer - the next generation who can contribute significantly while Ant, Jaden and Naz are in the heart of their prime career years.

Everything you say makes sense even if I disagree with a little bit of it. The reason why I’m speculating is because they are treating Dilly different than every other young draft pick/player under Finch and Connelly. Jaden, Naz, Vando, bolmaro, Minott, miller, Garza, Rocco, Clark, TSJ, Beringer, even bones Hyland had a G league stint with Finch/Connelly involved. The only 2 draft picks (not including Spagnolo) under Finch to not get a G league stint are Ant and Dilly. That’s why I am speculating because I agree he should be in Iowa but why is this situation different than every other thing the wolves have done with every other young player

60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:36 am I got a sneaky feeling that IF Dilly is not traded by the deadline, he will finally get an extended G-League stint.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:38 am

60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:36 am I got a sneaky feeling that IF Dilly is not traded by the deadline, he will finally get an extended G-League stint.

That is also what I think

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed Jan 28, 2026 9:42 am Just to clarify Kek, Jaden never played in the G-League and Shannon played only a couple of games, where like Garza, he absolutely destroyed the competition and it was clear it wasn't really a challenge or growth opportunity for him.

And as I said earlier, Dillingham DID play in the G-League twice last year and it wasn't clear at all that he was NBA-ready whereas Shannon killed it. He needs to prove that he can shoot, score, pass, and not throw the ball away against fringe NBA competition before getting another opportunity against the real thing.

Back to Shannon..... His absolute trainwreck of a regular season is something I never saw coming. One of those rare cases where may be college, G-League, Summer League, and Preseason success simply doesn't translate to the NBA. A real head-scratcher.