The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to go through their lumps and they won’t be able to play uber-versatile basketball a whole lot for a while, but Dylan Windler can potentially grow into one of their quality pieces in the near future that could be noticeably more interchangeable than most.
The main reason that the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Belmont product Dylan Windler 26th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft was predominantly his three-point shooting ability that should provide valuable spacing for their primary and secondary on-ball creators.
In four seasons at Belmont, Windler shot 40.6% from three-point land on a volume of 4.2 three-point attempts, while having a career collegiate scoring average of 13.2 points per game, per Sports Reference.
While it was not the absolute-best competition at Belmont (which plays in the Ohio Valley Conference), the 22-year-old Windler has shown in NBA Summer League (though it is only Summer League) for the Cavaliers that he can positively impact games in a variety of ways, and of course, the deep range has been on display at times, which should help out players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr. and others.
In three games in the Salt Lake City Summer League, Windler had an opening performance that was his best scoring production there against the San Antonio Spurs’ Summer League squad, in which he really displayed his shooting from deep, putting in 19 points and hitting three triples (per NBA.com).
From there in the next two games, he was more of a focal point for opposing defenses of the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies’ Summer League teams, as we touched on, but did make quality decisions most of the time as a passer, and was making quality decisions overall, which was encouraging.
It’s clear that while he’s not going to be a primary playmaker much, or if at all for the Cavs, even for the bench, he usually makes the right reads, and did show he’s able to make the right decisions to move the ball to open shooters and help Cleveland’s offense, which is valuable going forward, because opposing defenders will close out hard to Windler, because of his perimeter shooting acumen.
In three games in SLC, Windler had averages of 10.3 points per game on 44.0% shooting, to go with 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game (per NBA.com), and with his positional awareness, he should be in the right spots the vast majority of the time both offensively and defensively at least in his rookie year in 2019-20.
In the two games he’s played in the Las Vegas Summer League for Cleveland, Wade has posted 15.0 points on 44.0% shooting, to go with 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game (again, per NBA.com).
Against the Boston Celtics on Monday, though Cleveland struggled to handle massive human Tacko Fall and the ever-crafty Carsen Edwards and ultimately lost handily, Windler had a pretty good outing, as he had 15 points on five-of-12 shooting (including three-of-five from three-point range) to go with five rebounds (per NBA.com), and displayed good feel as a ball-mover.
Here’s a glimpse into how he did, courtesy of Free Dawkins.
Furthermore, Windler is a player that has the potential to be a key piece for Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff in the coming years in enabling them to be more multiple and have interchangeable positions, because of not only his ability to space the floor and knock down shots, but also the way he moves without the ball and finishes as a cutter, can do some secondary playmaking and play well off of more ball-dominant guards, and rebound his position very effectively thanks to quality timing and his aforementioned positional awareness often leading him to the right spot to corral boards.
At Windler’s listed size (per Basketball Reference) of 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds, though he probably will need to add some more muscle in the near future, he has some hybrid feel to him, and Beilein noted that sort of thing recently, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, and that should bode well for the Cavs in the coming years, with players such as Sexton, Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. likely playing alongside Windler in considerable stretches.
"“I don’t know exactly what (his role) is going to be, whether we are going to play him at guard or forward, but he’s a player. His size, 6-foot-7, with pretty good handle and pretty good vision, he can play a lot of spots.”"
Okay, so maybe he is 6-foot-7?
Anyway, this is good to hear from Beilein, and though I would imagine that Windler will likely play the majority of his minutes, at least next season, at the wing position behind Osman, who is realistically the only natural 3 on Cleveland’s roster right now, it’s at least good to know that Windler can potentially have notable positional versatility in the coming years, as less-position-strict basketball is the trend in today’s NBA.
Heck, Fedor even went in-depth as to how Windler is as ambidextrous as one can be in that previously-mentioned piece, and with the way Windler has that in his repertoire, he could become a very difficult and at least awkward player to guard in the coming years, and for bigger or smaller players alike, with the way he can motor around off-ball screens, and create for himself in the pick-and-roll occasionally with both hands, too.
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Windler has advanced feel when it comes to his cutting when defenses overcommit to his perimeter shot, shooting off screens, secondary playmaking, rebounding positoning and execution, and though I’m skeptical he’ll be a plus individual defender at the next level, he seems to be a player that can be a quality team defender that rotates well, gets his hands in passing lanes consistently and contests perimeter shooters in a disciplined manner.
Overall, with the Cleveland Cavaliers not likely primarily focused on winning in the next few years, it’s good to have a few players that can fit in a pinch in a variety of positions, especially considering Cleveland will likely play Sexton and Garland together a legitimate chunk of minutes, given that both are such talented scorers that can put pressure on the opposing defense consistently off the bounce.
Additionally, Windler seems to be a player that could occasionally be a screener on the ball for Garland, Sexton, or occasionally Osman and Matthew Dellavedova as a 2 or 3, forcing defenses into a bind.
Plus, playing alongside Nance or Ante Zizic against small-ball opposing bench lineups, Windler could be a quality secondary playmaker that is a hybrid 3/stretch-four that allows Nance to roll harder to the rim for lobs or clears out the paint for Zizic post-ups.
I wouldn’t think that Windler would be a player that the Cavaliers want in post defense much, but against bench pieces, he could be fairly competent against pick-and-pop 4’s some, and at least defend off-ball shooting 2’s or 3’s, and possibly defend for a few seconds when against guard pick-and-roll ball-handlers.
In short, with the Cavaliers not having a plethora of wings on the roster and players that are token stretch-fours (maybe Dean Wade can develop into a more full-time one) outside of Osman and Kevin Love, Windler could feasibly develop into a near-future nice interchangeable option for Beilein and company with his advanced feel as far as rookies go.