Did the Minnesota Timberwolves Make the Right Swing with Rob Dillingham?
Brendan what do you think of this deal what do you what where is your head out with the Rob Dillingham to Minnesota deal yeah I mean I my tweet on this went around a little bit last night um Minnesota fans were like Tim Connelly chessnut Checkers um which was hilarious as if I’m like some kind of wolves fan that was pumping them up after I mean you are you are you are like number one Rudy gobear trade supporter guy that I know in my life so you know kind of true I mean everybody caught up to me this spring though right I mean are we still n know you were you were you were you were light years ahead of that that in I’m happy to be first but are there are there still like wolves haters I mean I feel like everybody kind of got on board they were like the most entertaining thing in the postseason while everything sucked everyone got on Ant I don’t think everyone necessarily got on like embracing Rudy goar look I will all again make the distinction I do not love Rudy goar I just think the trade was never as bad as everyone claimed that it was that’s it but on this trade the chestnut Checkers aspect of it that got wolves fans hyped on draft night on Wednesday was me pointing out and honestly me calling this like a loophole is a little bit of a exaggeration I would say it’s not as if it’s this out of the box crazy no one could have ever thought of it thing but it is a little bit of a loophole in that basically this trade Chris by giving up go by going just so high on the price to acquire the eighth overall pick in this draft and go get somebody like Rob Dillingham the Wolves had no other avenues to get a play player that makes as much money or is as uh High highly valued in that he’s young and talented as Dillingham there’s no way they are a second apron team in the free agent Market they’re only a able to use minimum contracts there’s some World in which yeah you know some fans were pointing P pulling back at me and saying like well we could have resigned like Kyle Anderson and traded him and that would open up a salary slot and it’s like honestly good luck I don’t think that was going to happen so and and is the you’re getting as good as Dillingham probably not so from a value standpoint from a dealing being up against it and trying to deal with all of those limitations that the CBA has kind of put on teams and still getting a great player I kind of have no choice but to tip my cap to conell but obviously what those picks end up becoming how high they are all that we’ll we’ll find out when we’re all you know much older and if Dillingham hits or not we’ll see that as well so I don’t know what do you think did you like Dillingham do you think he is going to be able to hold up in the NBA is he the right kind of player for them to go get given what they needed I think I would have probably preferred they use this on some kind of wing who’s a little bit bigger I just think doubling down on that to me makes some sense right like I think getting someone else there maybe like you’re thinking a Kyle Anderson successor to me would have made a little more sense okay so an point guard in that world but that’s the thing right it’s like do you need you need a Mike Conley succession plan at some point you’re not really going to be a team that can trade for like an expensive point guard of the market like you can’t be the Garland team you can’t be the the dejonte team right like it doesn’t really unless you’re trading goar trading cat which doesn’t seem like it’s happening imminently particularly with cat I don’t think like that is was really out there right like and a veteran minimum guy is is like a stop Gap thing for this team so like taking Dillingham and saying okay we have time with Conley yeah and ant to bring him along slowly we were we need we need to get Talent maybe the cost this year for a talent who had a weird year at Kentucky who is really young one of the younger guys in this draft obviously at 19 in a draft that’s skewed a little bit older that part makes a ton of sense where it’s like okay we can maybe find ways to contribute year one we don’t need him to be a starter from day one but it’s a interest us to get talent and maybe like I mean a top another first out the door for them at this point is just like sure whatever like it’s like already yeah but they’re so far out that it’s like they kept their pick this year and they got Teran Shannon which was kind of nice too to not have to they care about now for the draft and for these trades so it it it kind of made sense to actually go out that far I feel like we always think that’s worse but kind of made more sense for the Wolves it’s like you figure it out and you have ant and you’re you you kind of figure like you can maybe like you have him and Jaden and you can like try to really and these guys take care of some of the the the long-term concerns with that so like I get it I think Dillingham and Shannon S picks in this draft make tons of sense as far as trying to rebuild your guard rotation get a little bit younger get some more offensive juice at those guard spots but not something you need to solve right now like next year is still going to be Mike Conley’s the point guard of your team but a year from now is Dillingham the starter on your team you not to mention I mean they have Nel Alexander Walker still in the mix as well he had a breakout postseason quite a point guard but he’s a playmaking option for you that can dribble and kind of be part of that and then I think they would hope that Jaden McDaniels has a little bit more scoring punch and creation punch to him over time so I think to me Dillingham is like one of the players they hope can Elevate the ceiling of their offense now and in potentially like a postcat environment but I guess one thing is they’re definitely a team that’s big enough to to absorb yeah exactly the same way they have been with connley now Conley’s a better Defender and he’s a vet and everything else but you know they could of any team in the NBA to take on a week link size-wise and defense-wise the biggest most intense defensive Supporting Cast in the NBA with the star player who’s actually like a plus plus plus on that end in ant that’s the type of team that should be taking the risk so from a fit standpoint we never would have been talking about Minnesota as a Dillingham fit cuz why would we why why would but it works but it works so for him I love it I I think you you’d be hard pressed to find a situation in the NBA where Dillingham was more likely to develop than this it’s just from their standpoint there’s a whole lot more pressure on it to actually break that way now and look good on them for for what this costs I mean Bobby marks had this their tax spill goes from 56 to 84 million with the addition of what dillingham’s rookie salary so the rookie salary they traded away a guy in the with a pick in the second round on Thursday to to start to dip into that right so it shows how much you feel it yeah you feel this imminently like and even with the cheap contract on the books like you still have these other payments like this isn’t like a cheap expenditure to do this so good good for them for going for this i’ like that they did this to build this roster and not just say we’re going to go old we’re going to go veteran we’re going to get our version of signing Reggie Jackson or something like that like they are thinking not just about next year but for the future and that that’s a I love I love when the best teams in the league are not just kind of doubling down and and staying too much in the present that the wolves are thinking about what’s to come and I think that’s really smart when you have Anton who has such a long Runway big losers Dallas Minnesota or Dallas Denver Phoenix any of the older teams in the west that didn’t just get a lot better Minnesota and Oklahoma City are coming and they’re better now so good luck to everyone else cuz those two teams added a lot here and uh they were already pretty damn good
The Minnesota Timberwolves took a big swing as they traded up in the 2024 NBA Draft to select Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham. After a Western Conference Finals berth last season, is this the gamble the Timberwolves needed to make?
Brendon Kleen and Chris Manning discuss on the Just Basketball Show.
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7 Comments
Wolves need a +IQ to play QB/PG. He also dont put effort on defense. I guess since dude dont eat enough and fake mj eats too much they complete each other?
These guys are idiots
Would've been neat to see Shannon at #27 and small trade to move back into early 2nd round for Kolek. Rob is high upside and might end up being the best in this draft in 5 years, but they are built for success NOW. Shannon and Kolek are older and will contribute immediately.
There'll be lots of skid marks from defenders trying to keep up (or trying not to get their ankles broken) with this ball-handling wizard. This kid will be exciting to watch.
How is it a gamble?
The wolves do not really need a big wing tbh. Naz, KAT, and Jaden are more than enough at this point. TSJ is the replacement plan for NAW. Dillingham is the pick for Conley-who will get worse with age. The wolves severely lacked scoring punch last year down the stretch and you can see a shift in emphasis of defense to maybe being a bit more balanced, which could help them get over the hump. Dillingham will probably make them much worse defensively when he is on the floor, Kyle Anderson’s loss will be big for their bench defense. I think the team becomes more interesting though with a better pick and roll partner for Rudy than Ant being added to the mix. (Ant is great obviously, he just has surprisingly bad numbers for PnR, he hasn’t figured it out yet).
This is a bad move for the Wolves. Gave up way too much for a guard who in reality will probably be nothing more than a one position bench scorer or floor spacer who plays no defense. They could of got this type of player a lot easier but they chose to buy into weird social media optics hype.