Rob Dillingham catches eye of Chris Finch, Russell Westbrook in preseason finale

Dillingham is only a few days away from making his NBA regular season debut.

Oct 17, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham (4) passes against the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

In the Timberwolves' 132-126 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, rookie guard Rob Dillingham played a preseason career-high 26 minutes. He continued to flash some of his upside, finishing with 15 points and 7 assists on 6-14 (42.9%) shooting from the field.

Former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook is entering his first season with the Nuggets, and Dillingham was a little star-struck when the nine-time NBA All-Star came up to him during the game and showed some love.

Rob Dillingham thought it was crazy that Russell Westbrook knew who he was 🤝🏽 pic.twitter.com/fqo3jEsMnR

— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) October 18, 2024

"That's crazy! I've watched Westbrook since I was little kid, literally, since I was in middle school," Dillingham said. "I done seen Westbrook my whole life and it's crazy to just know that he knows who I am."

In five preseason games, Dillingham played 19.8 minutes per game and averaged 9 points, 6 assists and 2.2 rebounds on 33.3/35/100 shooting splits. He bookended the slate with strong outings against the Lakers and Nuggets, but was just 3 of 20 from the floor in the other three games (though he did have 9 assists and 3 steals against the 76ers). The 19-year-old clearly has potential, but he's also pretty raw at this point.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was asked what he thought about their first-round rookie's performance throughout training camp and the preseason and he had a mixed reaction.

"Mixed. It's typical ups and downs. He's got to understand the perks of how he plays," Finch said. "I think he's kind of searching a hard road right now. He's trying to get himself going too hard. He needs to come down and play in the flow a little bit more, be a bit more of a distributor first."

Dillingham had a strong 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the preseason and could be in the mix for minutes off the bench this year, but after acquiring Donte DiVincenzo, the Wolves have the luxury of being a little more patient with his devolepment.

"When he gets into the heart of the defense with a quick decisive move, he can really find people," Finch said. "Too much dribbling and defensively, he's already giving up size and weight, so he's got to figure out how to win the battle early and not foul."

When Minnesota traded up to select Dillingham with the No. 8 pick in last spring's NBA Draft, it looked like he might be the team's backup point guard from day one. But he won't turn 20 until January and it sounds like he might ease into a substantial role.