When Rob Dillingham played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, he wasn’t afforded much room for error. That’s understandable, as a young, raw guard on a championship-caliber adjacent team is likley to hurt the team more than help it.
In Chicago, though, where the team is playing for funzies at this point, Dillingham can mess up all he wants! It’s a learning experience for everyone involved, and with the pressure of “winning basketball games” no longer hanging over his head, the 21 year-old point guard can just go out and develop at his own pace.
For a team that’s tanking (I think), Dillingham might be the perfect player to lead the charge. If he sabotages the team, it helps the lottery odds. If he balls out, suddenly the Bulls have a promising young point guard of the future.
In his first three games with the team, he’s played over 20 minutes in each, showing that if nothing else, he’ll have a fair shot.
Rob Dillingham was a lottery pick for a reason
Not just a lottery pick, mind you, but a lauded lottery pick who most of the NBA world viewed as a steal for the Timberwolves. Of course, Dillingham’s tenure in Minnesota was a massive disappointment, and I won’t argue that. But it’s not hard to make an argument that Dillingham never had a chance there, and may have been doomed by circumstance.
The team circumstance is worse with the Bulls, of course, but that could be to Dillingham’s benefit. His club option has been exercised for next year (and he has another in 27-28), so the front office has plenty of time to see what it has in the former Kentucky star.
In his first few games, it appears the Bulls at least have something. There have been some head-scratching moments still, but Dillingham had 16 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals on Wednesday in perhaps his best game of the year.
Right now, Dillingham’s biggest roadblock to consistent minutes is Chicago having about nine other guards also trying to prove themselves. Jaden Ivey and Anfernee Simons are both on expiring deals, trying to play themselves into longterm deals, and Collin Sexton is in the mix, too.
Thus, Dillingham is in another strange situation. With the Wolves, there were pretty much no other players standing in his way of playing time, but he clearly wasn’t ready to contribute for a high-level team. In Chicago, he has a chance to develop, but there are multiple players trying to do the same thing.