Rob Dillingham looked like something close to Gen Z Allen Iverson in college when he was tearing it up for the Kentucky Wildcats next to Reed Sheppard. The super shifty point guard was ripping deep three-pointers, cooking defenders off the bounce, and playing with a flair that energized fans and teammates alike. The Minnesota Timberwolves were so sold on Dillingham that they traded a first-round pick seven years out to move up to the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 draft to select him.
Dillingham could not get on the floor for a contending Wolves team in his first 1.5 seasons, so at the trade deadline Minnesota dealt him to Chicago for Ayo Dosunmu. Taking a flier on the 21-year-old guard made sense for a rebuilding Bulls team, but so far the change of scenery hasn’t benefitted Dillingham too much.
As the Thunder were crushing the Bulls on Tuesday night, Dillingham had one of the strangest turnovers you will ever see. Pushing the ball on the break, the Chicago guard accidentally heel-kicked the ball to OKC. This is something straight out soccer, but not sure if Messi himself could actually pull off if he tried. Watch the play here:
This feels absolutely impossible to recreate. If Dillingham tried to do it 100 more times, I don’t think he could. That’s yours truly on the clip, and I’m just glad I had the game recording when such a strange play happened.
Dillingham needs to do two things to save his NBA career: cut down the turnovers, and improve as a shooter. He has a nearly 20 percent turnover rate since entering the league, which is about twice as high as it needs to be given his other limitations. For such a small guard to succeed, they need to be able to drain threes off the dribble. Dillingham’s 44 percent college three-point stroke has fallen to 31.7 percent in the NBA. A lot of his issues could probably be fixed just by getting stronger.
Dillingham is really fun to watch when he’s on, but his significant lack of both length and strength hurts him. This is just a bizarre play. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it before, and I doubt I’ll ever see it again.
