The Rob Dillingham Thread

[winforlose]

I agree.

It’s going to take some basketball games to prove you wrong.

One thing that’s interesting:

Connelly and Finch have said they’re ready to play Dilly right away. Is that hype? I think that’s stronger than hype when it comes from the GM and coach of a very strong team. That’s endorsement. Not hype.

We had an awful team with Dunn and Culver and coaches weren’t talking like that.

The hype I was referring to was the national media stuff posted above. You need context before jumping in.

I saw it.

My point is this is more than national media hype (Connelly and Finch saying Dilly will play immediately).

Plenty of hyped players play immediately. Hype can be right or wrong. You are trying to turn this into my attacking Dilly, but my only point is not to rely to heavily one way or the other on scouts or talking heads expectations for a player. Plenty of positive and negative surprises have happened over the years.

[thinktank]

Winforlose, you’re not saying anything valuable at all.

Living up to your name.

[winforlose]

Winforlose, you’re not saying anything valuable at all.

Living up to your name.

lol, dude you need to relax. I don’t why this is personal for you, or why you feel the need to insult me. My point was valid that a lot of busts have good hype, and a lot of suprise guys like McDaniels don’t get enough hype. If you don’t see the value in that statement that is your problem, not mine.

P.S, hype has no bearing on the outcome.

[BlacJacMac]

The hype I was referring to was the national media stuff posted above. You need context before jumping in.

I saw it.

My point is this is more than national media hype (Connelly and Finch saying Dilly will play immediately).

Plenty of hyped players play immediately. Hype can be right or wrong. You are trying to turn this into my attacking Dilly, but my only point is not to rely to heavily one way or the other on scouts or talking heads expectations for a player. Plenty of positive and negative surprises have happened over the years.

So why even bother talking about anyone at all until they've proven something?

For someone that was such a positive poster up until the Dallas series, you sure seem to be looking to hammer any flaw with Dilly and disregard anything positive. Did our not winning the title break you? Or do you just really not like Dilly?

[winforlose]

I saw it.

My point is this is more than national media hype (Connelly and Finch saying Dilly will play immediately).

Plenty of hyped players play immediately. Hype can be right or wrong. You are trying to turn this into my attacking Dilly, but my only point is not to rely to heavily one way or the other on scouts or talking heads expectations for a player. Plenty of positive and negative surprises have happened over the years.

So why even bother talking about anyone at all until they've proven something?

For someone that was such a positive poster up until the Dallas series, you sure seem to be looking to hammer any flaw with Dilly and disregard anything positive. Did our not winning the title break you? Or do you just really not like Dilly?

You talk about Dilly in the context of what you have seen him show and what you need from him. National hype surrounding him is far less relevant, which is all I was pointing out. For example, Finch wanted us to push pace, Dilly excelled in transition and therefore should help with that. That is a valid observation and assessment without any hype required.

I am a very positive poster. I still believe we have the best starting 5 and one of if not the best top 7 in the NBA. But that can be true while not liking the roster construction and the lack of depth at key positions like PG and C. I have no problem with Dilly getting minutes, I have a problem with needing Dilly to play those minutes because we have no alternative if he is struggling (not in a 1-2 game stretch, but legit struggling over multiple games.)

You can call me an as*****le for remembering Maple Jordan, but the truth is Standrew Wiggins was much more apt. Dilly could be the next big thing, but he could also be the next Kris Dunn. I was simply saying don’t get lost on the hype train.

[KGdaBom]

Plenty of hyped players play immediately. Hype can be right or wrong. You are trying to turn this into my attacking Dilly, but my only point is not to rely to heavily one way or the other on scouts or talking heads expectations for a player. Plenty of positive and negative surprises have happened over the years.

So why even bother talking about anyone at all until they've proven something?

For someone that was such a positive poster up until the Dallas series, you sure seem to be looking to hammer any flaw with Dilly and disregard anything positive. Did our not winning the title break you? Or do you just really not like Dilly?

You talk about Dilly in the context of what you have seen him show and what you need from him. National hype surrounding him is far less relevant, which is all I was pointing out. For example, Finch wanted us to push pace, Dilly excelled in transition and therefore should help with that. That is a valid observation and assessment without any hype required.

I am a very positive poster. I still believe we have the best starting 5 and one of if not the best top 7 in the NBA. But that can be true while not liking the roster construction and the lack of depth at key positions like PG and C. I have no problem with Dilly getting minutes, I have a problem with needing Dilly to play those minutes because we have no alternative if he is struggling (not in a 1-2 game stretch, but legit struggling over multiple games.)

You can call me an as*****le for remembering Maple Jordan, but the truth is Standrew Wiggins was much more apt. Dilly could be the next big thing, but he could also be the next Kris Dunn. I was simply saying don’t get lost on the hype train.

You're worrying about if our 3rd PG is good enough. Nobody's 3rd PG is good enough. We just need our 2nd PG to be good enough and Dilly should be a huge improvement over last year. If he doesn't work out well that would suck, but now is not the time to be losing sleep over that.

[thinktank]

We have lack of depth at C?

[winforlose]

We have lack of depth at C?

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

[thinktank]

We have lack of depth at C?

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

When KAT went down our win percentage went… UP. I believe we were 16 - 6 = .727. We were .683 overall. Kaboom!

Look around the league. We have as much C depth as any other team, and probably more.

[BlacJacMac]

We have lack of depth at C?

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

So what teams have 3 quality players at every position?

[winforlose]

We have lack of depth at C?

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

When KAT went down our win percentage went… UP. I believe we were 16 - 6 = .727. We were .683 overall. Kaboom!

Look around the league. We have as much C depth as any other team, and probably more.

I don’t know why you are kabooming? Ant played out of his mind during that stretch and payed a high physical price for it. Naz stepped up as PF and proved he was 6th man of the year. Kyle played small ball C and we made do. If your argument is that we are better without proper C depth then I think you missed the time of the year and quality of opponent of some of those games.

We have the best 1/2 C situation of any team in basketball because our backup C is All NBA caliber. However, he is also our starting PF. Naz has transitioned his body and game to SF/PF and we lost Kyle. I guess the answer is Miller at C. I tend to think Miller is a PF, but if you want Miller at C (some people do, including Dane Moore, Britt Robison, and other talking heads,) then that is your answer. I just wonder if we could have done better than Luka at 3rd string.

[BlacJacMac]

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

When KAT went down our win percentage went… UP. I believe we were 16 - 6 = .727. We were .683 overall. Kaboom!

Look around the league. We have as much C depth as any other team, and probably more.

I don’t know why you are kabooming? Ant played out of his mind during that stretch and payed a high physical price for it. Naz stepped up as PF and proved he was 6th man of the year. Kyle played small ball C and we made do. If your argument is that we are better without proper C depth then I think you missed the time of the year and quality of opponent of some of those games.

We have the best 1/2 C situation of any team in basketball because our backup C is All NBA caliber. However, he is also our starting PF. Naz has transitioned his body and game to SF/PF and we lost Kyle. I guess the answer is Miller at C. I tend to think Miller is a PF, but if you want Miller at C (some people do, including Dane Moore, Britt Robison, and other talking heads,) then that is your answer. I just wonder if we could have done better than Luka at 3rd string.

The reason we didn't get better C or PG free agents is because of our depth!

The players that can contribute positively all went to teams where they'd have a chance to be in rotations. Here they'd be coming as injury insurance.

Look around the league. Every team is going to have issues if a star goes down.

[winforlose]

When KAT went down our win percentage went… UP. I believe we were 16 - 6 = .727. We were .683 overall. Kaboom!

Look around the league. We have as much C depth as any other team, and probably more.

I don’t know why you are kabooming? Ant played out of his mind during that stretch and payed a high physical price for it. Naz stepped up as PF and proved he was 6th man of the year. Kyle played small ball C and we made do. If your argument is that we are better without proper C depth then I think you missed the time of the year and quality of opponent of some of those games.

We have the best 1/2 C situation of any team in basketball because our backup C is All NBA caliber. However, he is also our starting PF. Naz has transitioned his body and game to SF/PF and we lost Kyle. I guess the answer is Miller at C. I tend to think Miller is a PF, but if you want Miller at C (some people do, including Dane Moore, Britt Robison, and other talking heads,) then that is your answer. I just wonder if we could have done better than Luka at 3rd string.

The reason we didn't get better C or PG free agents is because of our depth!

The players that can contribute positively all went to teams where they'd have a chance to be in rotations. Here they'd be coming as injury insurance.

Look around the league. Every team is going to have issues if a star goes down.

I don’t think you get it. So let me try it this way. Behind Ant and Jaden is NAW. Behind KAT is Naz. Behind Conley is Dilly, and behind Rudy is KAT. Dilly as a rookie is a bit of a question mark, but let’s assume it works out well enough. In the event of a starter going down we are survivable (obviously Ant and Mike hurt more than anyone else.) But, over the course of an 82 game season stuff happens. Last season we played a few games without Rudy or Karl. Now we also remove Kyle. Your starting 5 in a no Rudy or Karl is Mike/NAW/MCD/Naz. Your next 5 are Dilly/TJ/?/?/?. My guess is Jingles, Minott, Garza, or Jingles, Miller, and Garza. Either way, the options are not great. If you want to look around the league and tell me no team missed their starting 4 and 5 last year, I would say look again (at us for example.) Having a big body instead of Garza would have been better. As for the PG, Dozier or Nix are the ones who fill in when Mike or Dilly are unavailable. But in a game where both Mike and Dilly are unavailable we are now in NAW territory and that is not a great place to be.

[BlacJacMac]

Welcome to the NBA.

We're not in a unique situation in case of injuries. Hell, we're probably still better off than most teams.

[Klomp]

I don’t think you get it. So let me try it this way. Behind Ant and Jaden is NAW. Behind KAT is Naz. Behind Conley is Dilly, and behind Rudy is KAT. Dilly as a rookie is a bit of a question mark, but let’s assume it works out well enough. In the event of a starter going down we are survivable (obviously Ant and Mike hurt more than anyone else.) But, over the course of an 82 game season stuff happens. Last season we played a few games without Rudy or Karl. Now we also remove Kyle. Your starting 5 in a no Rudy or Karl is Mike/NAW/MCD/Naz. Your next 5 are Dilly/TJ/?/?/?. My guess is Jingles, Minott, Garza, or Jingles, Miller, and Garza. Either way, the options are not great. If you want to look around the league and tell me no team missed their starting 4 and 5 last year, I would say look again (at us for example.) Having a big body instead of Garza would have been better. As for the PG, Dozier or Nix are the ones who fill in when Mike or Dilly are unavailable. But in a game where both Mike and Dilly are unavailable we are now in NAW territory and that is not a great place to be.

If you are looking solely position by position, sure you could make the argument that some positions are weaker than others. But if you analyzed the real-life situations, you would see that things are different than you seem to think. Garza is not the immediate backup to anyone. We saw it last year...if Gobert was out, Towns slid over to C.

[BlacJacMac]

I don’t think you get it. So let me try it this way. Behind Ant and Jaden is NAW. Behind KAT is Naz. Behind Conley is Dilly, and behind Rudy is KAT. Dilly as a rookie is a bit of a question mark, but let’s assume it works out well enough. In the event of a starter going down we are survivable (obviously Ant and Mike hurt more than anyone else.) But, over the course of an 82 game season stuff happens. Last season we played a few games without Rudy or Karl. Now we also remove Kyle. Your starting 5 in a no Rudy or Karl is Mike/NAW/MCD/Naz. Your next 5 are Dilly/TJ/?/?/?. My guess is Jingles, Minott, Garza, or Jingles, Miller, and Garza. Either way, the options are not great. If you want to look around the league and tell me no team missed their starting 4 and 5 last year, I would say look again (at us for example.) Having a big body instead of Garza would have been better. As for the PG, Dozier or Nix are the ones who fill in when Mike or Dilly are unavailable. But in a game where both Mike and Dilly are unavailable we are now in NAW territory and that is not a great place to be.

If you are looking solely position by position, sure you could make the argument that some positions are weaker than others. But if you analyzed the real-life situations, you would see that things are different than you seem to think. Garza is not the immediate backup to anyone. We saw it last year...if Gobert was out, Towns slid over to C.

And Naz Reid plays more.

Yes, it might mean McDaniels plays a few minutes at PF. Maybe Miller or Minott. Maybe Ingles plays 12 MPG.

None of that is worth wringing ones hands over.

[winforlose]

I don’t think you get it. So let me try it this way. Behind Ant and Jaden is NAW. Behind KAT is Naz. Behind Conley is Dilly, and behind Rudy is KAT. Dilly as a rookie is a bit of a question mark, but let’s assume it works out well enough. In the event of a starter going down we are survivable (obviously Ant and Mike hurt more than anyone else.) But, over the course of an 82 game season stuff happens. Last season we played a few games without Rudy or Karl. Now we also remove Kyle. Your starting 5 in a no Rudy or Karl is Mike/NAW/MCD/Naz. Your next 5 are Dilly/TJ/?/?/?. My guess is Jingles, Minott, Garza, or Jingles, Miller, and Garza. Either way, the options are not great. If you want to look around the league and tell me no team missed their starting 4 and 5 last year, I would say look again (at us for example.) Having a big body instead of Garza would have been better. As for the PG, Dozier or Nix are the ones who fill in when Mike or Dilly are unavailable. But in a game where both Mike and Dilly are unavailable we are now in NAW territory and that is not a great place to be.

If you are looking solely position by position, sure you could make the argument that some positions are weaker than others. But if you analyzed the real-life situations, you would see that things are different than you seem to think. Garza is not the immediate backup to anyone. We saw it last year...if Gobert was out, Towns slid over to C.

Last year we were relatively healthy. This year we might be, or we might not be. Garza, Dozier, and Jingles was TC rounding out the roster. We have a solid top 7, two rookies with a lot of promise, and two wildcards in Miller and Minott that I have hope for. In a 9 man rotation either Jingles or TJ is gonna be the odd man out. The issue I have with the roster construction (not new territory by any stretch,) is that while we are too full at 2-4, we are thin at 1 and 5. A ball handler is not a PG. NAW is a ball handler. Ant is something in between but has publicly stated he does not want to play PG. Naz does not thrive against opposing Cs, which is why Kyle was playing C when sharing the floor with Naz. End of the day, either Miller or Garza will likely see minutes at C this year, and that will be interesting. As for PG, maybe Dozier surprises us all, otherwise get ready for some PG by committee if/when Mike or Dilly misses time.

[Klomp]

I didn’t think that was controversial. One injury to KAT or Rudy and we have Garza in the rotation or Naz playing C. You did watch last season when KAT went down I assume? Garza isn’t NBA quality and we had Kyle playing small ball C but no longer have Kyle. So you tell me, where is the depth. Also no I don’t count Jesse Edwards who is purely a project and got somewhat embarrassed at Summer League.

Anderson was more like the 3rd or 4th C last year.

No. 1 C: Rudy Gobert
No. 2 C: Karl-Anthony Towns
No. 3 C: Naz Reid
No. 4 C: Luka Garza
No. 5 C: Leonard Miller
No. 6 C: Jesse Edwards

That is an insane amount of depth.

[thinktank]

What team has more center depth than us?

DPOY C, all-Star C, 6MOY PF / C.

I ask you.

[winforlose]

What team has more center depth than us?

DPOY C, all-Star C, 6MOY PF / C.

I ask you.

For Klomp as well.

Naz is a PF who has transitioned away from the C. He didn’t really play much C last season, and he won’t this season. I said above that having both Karl and Rudy means we have the best backup C in the NBA. However, if Rudy and KAT are out on the same night, we are very thin. You might start Naz at C and move Jaden up, but behind them you have Miller and Garza. Minott could play PF but he isn’t built for it. You ask who has more big man depth, off the top of my head I believe ATL, Cleveland, and Utah. I would need to dig into more as I need to remember all the offseason moves and picks to answer this thoroughly. Your point is valid that proper depth in every position is hard. That said, we chose to go super shallow when we signed Garza and Dozier instead of actual NBA players.