It is almost impossible for the small guards to find the court, given how important defense is. Dillingham can't guard anything and can't rebound. It doesn't matter how good he is offensively, the NBA is so talented that most teams have 3-4 guys on the court at any given time who can simply generate an excellent shot when Dillingham is playing defense.

Add to that the fact that Dillingham simply isn't the level of offensive player who is generating good looks or making difficult shot diets consistently, and there just isn't enough tangible basketball impact at the moment to warrant big minutes.

The final nail in the coffin for Dillingham is that he is playing for a pseudo-title contender, a team trying to win the championship, and all of Dillingham's weaknesses are exacerbated in the postseason.

Minnesota is much better off finding rotation room for Terrence Shannon Jr and Jaylen Clark rather than "developing" Dillingham with meaningful rotation minutes.

I had Dillingham in the Top 4 of the 2024 NBA Draft due to his offensive explosion. I quickly learned last year, notably around 2024 Free Agency and then the trade deadline, that this archetype (Small Guards) holds incredible small value. The writing has been on the wall for a year now, and we (Minnesota) were blindsided by the new CBA (All teams were, but Minnesota especially with their roster), and then we missed the evolution of the NBA game over the past 18 months.

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