Let the Garbage Times Roll - Wizards at Wolves GDT

[FNG]

Abe's "Hmm... Nah.. Couldn't... could it.. oh my gawd it's happening" DVR Review:

- The score was 38 - 29 and I went to rewind a J. Clark steal... and my Xfinity went goofy... and I see Conley at the line and the score 105-99. Darn it, but it's fine. Just a routine game.

But I decide to rewind it and rewatch it anyway. As I'm watching the Wolves build a 27 point lead, it was like a horror movie. I know they lead gets cut to 6. And I heard the "energy" in the murmur from the crowd when Conley missed that free throw.

Turns out that sense of dread ALL of us felt was just a tease. The Wizards are so bad that not even the Wolves could mess it up.

Besides... chicken was on their side. Forever more... this shall be known as The Game of Chicken.

- Might be fun to get "inside scoops" from Grady now that he has more contact with other teams at a national level. He let it slip that the Cavs coaching staff trusts every player on challenge calls... "except the PG."

As someone who was DVRing a lot of games when I was living in Tucson, I can appreciate the frustration of the replay moving ahead an hour and revealing the score...and then having to decide whether to watch or not. I never got past the "couldn't" stage in your stages of dread...the Wizards are truly a terrible basketball team, and we weren't going to lose to them on a night when our assist to TO ratio was so good (28/9).

I took advantage of the chicken deal Saturday when Sabonis missed his two free throws...may do it again today.

[Lipoli390]

Dilly might be the worst pick in franchise history

Must be game stress-induced hyperbole. . Dilly was missing shots last night but he played well overall on both ends. He’s 20 years old and hasn’t played much. He’s a long way from what he can or will be. I love what we’ve seen from him defensively so far this season. On the offensive end, he’s protecting the ball and making some really nice passes. His shot looks bad, but he was nailing threes in pregame warmups last night and Saturday night. So the distance of the NBA arc isn’t an issue for him. As a guy who has always shot well at every level, I’m confident he’ll get the shot going eventually although it clearly needs work.

Then of course, there’s the long list of truly terrible picks, including but not limited to the following:

1. Wendell Moore Jr. (#26 in 2022)
2. Jarrett Culver (#6 in 2019; traded up from #11. Taken over Cam Johnson, PJ Washington, Tyler Herro and Hachimura)
3. Kris Dunn (#5 in 2016; taken over Jamal Murray, Buddy Hield, Jakob Poeltl, Domantas Sabonis)
4. Shabazz (#14 in 2013; taken over Giannis after trading down from #9, passing on McCollum and Steven Adams)
5. Gorgui Dieng (#21 in 2013; taken over Hardaway Jr., and Rudy Gobert)
6. Cash (traded #27 for cash in 2013, passing on Gobert)
7. Derrick Williams (#2 in 2011; taken over Tristan Thomson, Valanciunas, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard)
8. Wesley Johnson (#4 in 2010)
9. Flynn (#6; taken over Steph Curry, DeRozan, Jrue Holiday)
10. Randy Foye (#6; taken over Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, JJ Redick…)
11. Rashad McCants (#14)
12. Ndudi Ebi (#26; taken over Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa ad Josh Howard)

I’ll stop there. The only pick among these 12 that wasn’t terrible was Gorgui, but he was still a bad pick relative to the players available as alternatives. The worst pick among these is probably Kris Dunn. Obviously, Rob Dillingham is not even close to being the Wolves worst pick ever and I think in time he’ll end up being a good pick although there are a couple PGs I would have preferred over Dilly at #8.

[kekgeek]

Dilly might be the worst pick in franchise history

Must be game stress-induced hyperbole. . Dilly was missing shots last night but he played well overall on both ends. He’s 20 years old and hasn’t played much. He’s a long way from what he can or will be. I love what we’ve seen from him defensively so far this season. On the offensive end, he’s protecting the ball and making some really nice passes. His shot looks bad, but he was nailing threes in pregame warmups last night and Saturday night. So the distance of the NBA arc isn’t an issue for him. As a guy who has always shot well at every level, I’m confident he’ll get the shot going eventually although it clearly needs work.

Then of course, there’s the long list of truly terrible picks, including but not limited to the following:

1. Wendell Moore Jr. (#26 in 2022)
2. Jarrett Culver (#6 in 2019; traded up from #11. Taken over Cam Johnson, PJ Washington, Tyler Herro and Hachimura)
3. Kris Dunn (#5 in 2016; taken over Jamal Murray, Buddy Hield, Jakob Poeltl, Domantas Sabonis)
4. Shabazz (#14 in 2013; taken over Giannis after trading down from #9, passing on McCollum and Steven Adams)
5. Gorgui Dieng (#21 in 2013; taken over Hardaway Jr., and Rudy Gobert)
6. Cash (traded #27 for cash in 2013, passing on Gobert)
7. Derrick Williams (#2 in 2011; taken over Tristan Thomson, Valanciunas, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard)
8. Wesley Johnson (#4 in 2010)
9. Flynn (#6; taken over Steph Curry, DeRozan, Jrue Holiday)
10. Randy Foye (#6; taken over Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, JJ Redick…)
11. Rashad McCants (#14)
12. Ndudi Ebi (#26; taken over Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa ad Josh Howard)

I’ll stop there. The only pick among these 12 that wasn’t terrible was Gorgui, but he was still a bad pick relative to the players available as alternatives. The worst pick among these is probably Kris Dunn. Obviously, Rob Dillingham is not even close to being the Wolves worst pick ever and I think in time he’ll end up being a good pick although there are a couple PGs I would have preferred over Dilly at #8.

Some of it was I just turned the game on and that was in the stretch I believed he missed 4 straight shots, right away. So there could be some bias there but with that said its a combo of the assets we traded to get them. We did give up a pick swap the year after Ant is no longer under contract and an unprotect first the year after that when Ant is no longer on contract (Obviously he might come back there is some real risk to that because we have no way in stopping him leave), only 6 players currently have played on their original team for 10+ years so Ant would have to be a rare one.

I mentioned it in the other thread before I read your post but Dilly since the "The NBA is easy game" has played in 52 games and he is statistically tied as the worst 3 point shooter in the NBA for players who take them. Culver and Dilly are within 1% point in 3% since that game compared to Culver career. He's improving on his turnovers but a 1.69 ast/turnover ratio is not great. He's trying hard on D and he is bring pace without it but when it comes to the assets they used to acquire Rob he needs to play better. This isn't a made a bad pick in the Johnny Flynn draft (Terrible pick with the extra context) and you can move on. Rob eliminates future moves we can make and leaves to post Ant era in potential troubling situation. I hope he figures it out but he can't be an undersized guard and the worst shooter in the NBA even though we are seeing super small improvements.

[Lipoli390]

Dilly might be the worst pick in franchise history

Must be game stress-induced hyperbole. . Dilly was missing shots last night but he played well overall on both ends. He’s 20 years old and hasn’t played much. He’s a long way from what he can or will be. I love what we’ve seen from him defensively so far this season. On the offensive end, he’s protecting the ball and making some really nice passes. His shot looks bad, but he was nailing threes in pregame warmups last night and Saturday night. So the distance of the NBA arc isn’t an issue for him. As a guy who has always shot well at every level, I’m confident he’ll get the shot going eventually although it clearly needs work.

Then of course, there’s the long list of truly terrible picks, including but not limited to the following:

1. Wendell Moore Jr. (#26 in 2022)
2. Jarrett Culver (#6 in 2019; traded up from #11. Taken over Cam Johnson, PJ Washington, Tyler Herro and Hachimura)
3. Kris Dunn (#5 in 2016; taken over Jamal Murray, Buddy Hield, Jakob Poeltl, Domantas Sabonis)
4. Shabazz (#14 in 2013; taken over Giannis after trading down from #9, passing on McCollum and Steven Adams)
5. Gorgui Dieng (#21 in 2013; taken over Hardaway Jr., and Rudy Gobert)
6. Cash (traded #27 for cash in 2013, passing on Gobert)
7. Derrick Williams (#2 in 2011; taken over Tristan Thomson, Valanciunas, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard)
8. Wesley Johnson (#4 in 2010)
9. Flynn (#6; taken over Steph Curry, DeRozan, Jrue Holiday)
10. Randy Foye (#6; taken over Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, JJ Redick…)
11. Rashad McCants (#14)
12. Ndudi Ebi (#26; taken over Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa ad Josh Howard)

I’ll stop there. The only pick among these 12 that wasn’t terrible was Gorgui, but he was still a bad pick relative to the players available as alternatives. The worst pick among these is probably Kris Dunn. Obviously, Rob Dillingham is not even close to being the Wolves worst pick ever and I think in time he’ll end up being a good pick although there are a couple PGs I would have preferred over Dilly at #8.

Some of it was I just turned the game on and that was in the stretch I believed he missed 4 straight shots, right away. So there could be some bias there but with that said its a combo of the assets we traded to get them. We did give up a pick swap the year after Ant is no longer under contract and an unprotect first the year after that when Ant is no longer on contract (Obviously he might come back there is some real risk to that because we have no way in stopping him leave), only 6 players currently have played on their original team for 10+ years so Ant would have to be a rare one.

I mentioned it in the other thread before I read your post but Dilly since the "The NBA is easy game" has played in 52 games and he is statistically tied as the worst 3 point shooter in the NBA for players who take them. Culver and Dilly are within 1% point in 3% since that game compared to Culver career. He's improving on his turnovers but a 1.69 ast/turnover ratio is not great. He's trying hard on D and he is bring pace without it but when it comes to the assets they used to acquire Rob he needs to play better. This isn't a made a bad pick in the Johnny Flynn draft (Terrible pick with the extra context) and you can move on. Rob eliminates future moves we can make and leaves to post Ant era in potential troubling situation. I hope he figures it out but he can't be an undersized guard and the worst shooter in the NBA even though we are seeing super small improvements.

You said, worst pick and that just doesn’t hold up in the context of all the terrible picks in the history of this franchise. Yes, the trade makes the pick worse, but so did trading Roy for Foye, and trading up for Culver. Drafting Dunn over Murray is likely far more damaging than what ever player we’re not able to get with the 2031 pick we gave up to get Rob.

More importantly, Rob has averaged 10.7 minutes per game. Even if it were 82 games, that’s just not enough repeating minutes from which to draw any meaningful conclusions about the player Rob will eventually be or the value of the trade used to draft him - especially given his age. I agree with Cool that Rob was not a good pick for winning now. TC seems smart enough to know that. My guess is that he saw something special in Rob and wanted to get him with the idea that he could begin to pay dividends mid way through Ant’s contract. I think Rob is a year away from becoming a good starting PG if he starts to get enough meaningful minutes. Unfortunately, I don’t think Finch will have the patience to give him those minutes.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Agreed. It's way too early to declare Rob Dillingham the worst pick. The Wolves have a checkered past with many possibilities as Lip chronicled well.

BUT... he's been bad so far. Statistically, it's irrefutable.



[Note: My thoughts on Dillingham are widely known by now. And it goes beyond the statistics. I just don't see lead guard chops with him. He still struggles with the basics of when to push, when to let others take control, when to shoot, when to pass, et al. Those are things that are inherent in almost all undersized point guards. It simply has to be. But I'm hopeful he'll improve enough to make the pick (trade) look better. He'll get better, the question is how much should we expect?]

[60WinTim]

I thought when we drafted him he could wind up being a microwave 6th man…

[Q-is-here]

I thought when we drafted him he could wind up being a microwave 6th man…

As of now, he'd be lucky to have an Ish Smith or Aaron Brooks type of career.

Finch is trying to mold him into a real point guard, which is not an easy task. I think if he continues defending hard and keeps his TOs in check Finch will put up with some missed shots. The problem is once Shannon gets healthy and the competition gets stiffer, it will get harder and harder to justify Dilly in the rotation.

[Lipoli390]

I thought when we drafted him he could wind up being a microwave 6th man…

As of now, he'd be lucky to have an Ish Smith or Aaron Brooks type of career.

Finch is trying to mold him into a real point guard, which is not an easy task. I think if he continues defending hard and keeps his TOs in check Finch will put up with some missed shots. The problem is once Shannon gets healthy and the competition gets stiffer, it will get harder and harder to justify Dilly in the rotation.

I think that’s right, Q. I’ll give Finch credit for trying to mold Rob into a true PG. I actually think it’s pretty clear that was the intent behind drafting him. I still recall TC commenting after that draft that they were more excited about Rob’s passing/playmaking potential than his shooting. The problem, as you noted, is that it will be hard to give Rob the minutes he needs to develop. I think Rob is going to be very good, but there’s no escaping the fact that right now he’s not good. He needs a season of 20-25 minutes per game playing mainly with our best players to develop his potential. That might mean losing games we would otherwise win. On the other hand, given how Mike Conley’s playing, it might not. It’s a gamble I believe this organization should take after trading up to #8 to draft him. If not, then Cool is right that the Wolves should trade him.