Cavs: Interview with Dylan Windler shows he’ll be self-aware on the floor

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Dylan Windler should be a player who is ready to roll early on in his NBA career as a rotational contributor, and a recent interview illustrated how he’ll likely let games come to him and not try to force it.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have clearly prioritized spacing this offseason, and one could see that by them adding three rookies in the 2019 NBA Draft that all can shoot it from three-point range at a high volume and high clip in Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., and those three should help open up driving lanes for players such as Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman, along with post-ups for players such as Kevin Love and Ante Zizic.

Those three rookies will all likely be relied on to be meaningful pieces in Cleveland’s rotation, and from the outset of the year, I would imagine at least Garland and Windler will be key pieces for the Cavs, whereas Porter was up-and-down in his one year at USC and a reported suspension and injuries played into that, too, so the NBA adjustment could take longer for him it seems.

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His talent is still very impressive and his two-way ceiling with his athleticism projects to be really high, though.

So anyhow, as has been touched on a bit, from my perspective (and I’d think plenty others), the rookie that would appear to be a regular contributor in a seamless off-ball role in Cleveland head coach John Beilein and his staff’s rotation, is Windler, given that he could have the makings of Cleveland’s best pure shooter in 2019-20 (whereas Garland will likely be more on the ball but could be more inconsistent overall).

Windler averaged 13.2 points per game and shot 40.6% from three-point range on a three-point rate of 48.7% and had a true shooting rate of 66.3% in four seasons in college at Belmont (per Sports Reference), and with his listed size of 6-foot-7.5 (per Tankathon), I would think he’ll be playing a considerable amount of minutes early on.

Along with that, with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ overloading of natural guards and with Cleveland needing to play its youngsters big minutes in a rebuilding scenario, I’d think Windler will play at the 4 a fair share, too (though I’m not saying I’d love that and it could lead to a potential for nagging injuries).

That being said, even with Windler projecting to be a meaningful contributor off the bench even as a rookie, I still don’t want him to feel he has to force things to initiate offense for himself and/or others, and based on a recent interview with Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell, it seems that the 22-year-old Windler is definitely going to be self-aware and fit in seamlessly in the Cavs’ rotation, and again, not force things often offensively.

That’s shown by this sort of thing from him in Windler seemingly saying that he doesn’t feel as though he’ll be asked to be a huge piece right away, but he’ll do whatever he can to help (again, per Dammarell, and h/t Cavs Nation’s Kenny Honaker).

"“I wouldn’t say I feel the pressure yet,” said Windler. “I try not to set too high of expectations for myself since it’s my rookie year. But, I’ll do everything I can every night to get better and do the things I can to contribute to the team.”"

Hearing this makes me again confident that Windler will play within himself early on for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and as a player that could mostly be a bench contributor in the NBA (though I could be wrong), it’s encouraging that the rookie is likely not going to be hunting shot opportunities.

Additionally, I would think he’s not going to be stepping out of his element too often in attempting to be a primary playmaker often in his minutes or anything, as Dammarell emphasized from what Windler said in regards to his role on the Cavaliers initially.

"“Windler envisions himself making immediate contributions on offense in catch-and-shoot situations, off-ball cutting and plenty of pin-downs.”"

Dammarell would go on to suggest how Windler (who would then agree) could eventually be similar to Utah Jazz forward and key playmaker Joe Ingles in terms of role down the road for Cleveland, but again, that’s not something that’s likely going to happen right away.

For reference, Cavaliers Nation’s Jonathan Sherman highlighted how it took Ingles “three seasons before he became a predominant starter for the Jazz,” which is relevant.

Ingles did not play over the half the game in those first three years, did not shoot over 5.5 times and did not have over 2.7 assists per game (per Basketball Reference), so his role was not nearly as sizable as it has turned into now then on a nightly basis, but it did grow gradually and Windler could have a similar trajectory over time.

Granted, he’s a gifted shooter and should find plenty of buckets from cutting and getting quality feeds from players such as Garland, Matthew Dellavedova and Larry Nance Jr., and we’ve touched on how Windler has good feel as a secondary playmaker before, but again, it’s nice to know that the Cleveland rookie seems to understand that he’ll just need to let the game come to him.

With his varying skill set and ability to shoot both off-the-catch and in pull-up situations, he’ll get ample chances naturally and not have to press, and I would think with Cleveland feasibly going smaller as the year progresses and perhaps Windler is on the floor more with Porter and/or Osman a good amount, that Windler could develop a nice two-man game with those players, and also Nance both as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and roller.

Nonetheless, hearing that Windler seemingly wants to fit in first, and not force his way into a key on-ball role, seems to me that he’ll always be a really self-aware player, and that makes me believe he’ll be a meaningful contributor on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a long time.

Hopefully other pieces such as Love and Sexton can stay healthy for Windler’s development, too, though, as that will likely play into Windler’s effectiveness as a floor-spacer.