Rob Dillingham prepared for spotlight, pro environment at Kentucky

Cold Hearts head coach Ryan Gomes of Overtime Elite knows professional talent when he sees it. He was one himself, a former consensus First Team All-American at Providence before playing seven years in the NBA and 12 years as a pro overall. He scored 4,926 points and pulled down 2,239 rebounds in the league, suiting up for four different franchises.

So when he says Kentucky fans should be excited about five-star guard signee Rob Dillingham, who is scheduled to arrive in Lexington this week to begin the move-in process, you should listen.

The soon-to-be freshman averaged 14.8 points, 4.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per contest as a senior at Overtime Elite. He then upped it to 18.0 points, 6.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest during the OTE Playoffs. Signing as a scholarship student-athlete with the program on November 3 after an uncomfortable departure from Donda Academy, it was a quick turnaround to suit up in his first game just a week later on Nov. 11 — a 6-point, 28.6% FG debut.

That point forward, though, he failed to hit the double-digit scoring mark just once all season and totaled 16 or more on seven separate occasions.

“Well, there’s not much to say about his game,” Gomes told KSR. “He’s doing the same things that we’re accustomed to seeing, what we saw him do before he got here. His quickness with the ball, his shiftiness, his shot-making ability from long range, his craftiness, making the easy plays. Being here, he’s put everyone on notice. That’s what he consistently does. He’s one of those guys that — like a microwave, once he gets going, he’s going to heat up very, very quickly.”

Dillingham has drawn comparisons to longtime NBA standouts Lou Williams and Jamal Crawford, fellow microwave scorers capable of putting points on the board in a hurry. He plays with electricity and flair, beautifully chaotic at times. The risk is low-efficiency nights — he had five games of 30% FG or worse this past season — while the reward is explosive offensive displays unlike anyone else in the class of 2023.

Playing with a short memory was a main coaching point with the future Wildcat this past season. That’s the only way to maximize the standout guard’s offensive potential, why you bring a guy like Dillingham to Lexington.

“He’s gotta keep taking those shots. Shooters have to keep shooting,” Gomes said. “If you’re open and get shots with no contest, or a late contest, it’s a good shot. You just have to figure out what tweaks you have to make to hit the next one.”

And if his shot isn’t falling, learning how to play winning basketball without scoring has also been a key point of emphasis.

“Sometimes you draw so much attention that you have to be a decoy and make other things happen for your teammates. It allows someone else to get open,” he told KSR. “… It’s just about explaining the game to him, ‘Sometimes you’re going to have those 25-point games. Sometimes you’re going to have an OK shooting night or a bad shooting night. But at the end of the day, you can still make plays.’

“When coaches come back and look at the box score or the stats, you can still do your job if it’s not a great shooting night. It’s about, ‘Did you make the right plays?’ when we go back and look at the film.”

He’s had to learn that the hard way at times, specifically when matched up against Amen and Ausar Thompson, two projected top-five selections in next month’s NBA Draft. The long, athletic wings are defensive terrors, set to make generational wealth largely thanks to their ability to muck things up on that end of the floor. And those are exactly the kinds of athletes and overall talents Dillingham will have to face this upcoming season in the SEC.

“Those two twins are known for being great defensive players. … When you have a guy that has five, six inches on you, no matter how quick you are — look at Steph Curry, because that’s what I kind of compare his shot to, how quickly he releases it,” Gomes said. “Sometimes it throws you off having taller guys like the Thompson Twins on you. Those are guys who have that it factor on contested shots because they have six or seven inches on most point guards they’re guarding.”

So what is the secret to counter that size and length for a guy standing 6-foot-1, 160 pounds soaking wet like Dillingham? Gomes got the future Wildcat in space, getting into an early screen almost immediately after crossing midcourt. A high screen forces bigs to the 3-point line as opposed to the free-throw line, allowing the five-star guard to get downhill and into the lane for finishes at the rim, floaters, wrap-around passes to bigs and kick-outs to the corners for threes.

That’s how his former head coach expects the Kentucky signee to thrive under the bright lights in Lexington. Gomes believes John Calipari will cater to Dillingham and put him in positions to succeed, figuring out ways to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Just as they worked to do to win games at OTE.

It doesn’t hurt he’s got pro talent coming in with him, a group Gomes is confident will bring the best out of the standout guard.

“I think he’ll mesh just fine. He has a great knack for the game, he understands the game,” he said. “With his attributes and with the guys coming to their team that we’ve spoken about, there’s gonna be a lot of space. I don’t think you can leave (Reed) Sheppard open, I don’t think you can leave (DJ) Wagner. The lefty that they’ve got (Justin Edwards), him as well. And (Aaron Bradshaw) — who played with Wagner, as well — coming.

“I don’t know what (Oscar) Tshiebwe is going to do, but if you look at just look at those players right there, and if they’re all playing with space, I think everyone’s gonna look tremendous because of the skill set and the people that are around each other. It’ll just make the job easier for each one of them — they’re interchangeable pieces, all of those five guys.”

Gomes also believes the glitz and glamour of OTE, the pro-style environment the program has worked to develop, will help Dillingham adapt at a blue-blood program like Kentucky. The five-star guard has been a social media sensation for years now and has played on ESPN, a high-profile kid from day one. Those players tend to work under John Calipari in Lexington.

“I think it’s helpful (being at OTE). I think he’s kind of used to the spotlight,” he said. “You look at some of the games he had playing AAU and even when he was here — like, he’s been on SportsCenter before. The family, all his friends, all the things on social media, he understands those lights are gonna be brighter every time you do great things on the court. Sometimes you might have an OK game, and they still want to ask you questions. So this is somewhat prepping him for that, especially going to play at Kentucky where the lights are always on. It’s almost like a professional environment because every game is talked about, every game is big. This is like the preseason before he gets there.”

What can fans expect from Dillingham when that moment comes? Why should they be excited about his arrival later this week, then his unofficial debut as a Wildcat when the team travels to Toronto for the GLOBL JAM in July?

“He’s a good teammate, makes plays for his team,” Gomes told KSR. “He has the responsibility of bringing the ball down the court, make plays, call plays, and get everybody involved. He’s a good dude, very chill. And he’s cool with everybody, just a good guy on and off the court.”

Kentucky has had an epic run of elite guards come through under John Calipari. Could Dillingham be next? His coach thinks so, offering up some pretty substantial player comparisons of former Wildcat stars.

“Just look at Kentucky and all the guards that came through there, all the knowledge and all the success that they have had at the point guard position. I think the excitement is he’s a guard like some of the guards you’ve had before,” Gomes said. “He has the speediness of a John Wall, the shooting ability of like a (Devin) Booker type of player. I think they should be excited because it’s not a one-dimensional thing. This is a guy that can play in space, a guy that can make shots on the perimeter and be a lob threat for anybody rolling to the basket. He has a great IQ of the game.

“(At OTE), he got into a flow of taking the shots that he needs to take to be that spark, that quick microwave factor. But he’s an all-around player that fans should be super excited about. They’ve seen a dose of what’s going to happen, but now it’s going to be more intensified.”

Dillingham shares that same excitement about being a Wildcat.

“I’m really excited to be headed to Kentucky and playing with all the new talent coming in – we’ve all been talking and can’t wait to start putting in work together,” he told KSR. “Kentucky fans are going to be in for a great year.”

The process begins this week.