The Cleveland Cavaliers added three players in the 2019 NBA Draft in Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., all of whom could develop into key contributors for Cleveland. Here, we’ll take a look at the burning question for each of those pieces for next season.
With the uncertainty regarding whether or not the 2019-20 NBA season will eventually resume, given concerns involving the novel coronavirus pandemic, I figure it’s relevant to seemingly hit on what’s played out already for the Cleveland Cavaliers and focus on perhaps what’s to come.
Rewinding to last summer, the Cavaliers ended up adding three players in the 2019 NBA Draft, with those being Darius Garland at fifth overall, Dylan Windler at 26th overall and Kevin Porter Jr. at 30th overall.
Porter was first selected by the Detroit Pistons (who acquired that selection from the Milwaukee Bucks via trade before the draft), but Detroit ended up trading his rights to Cleveland in exchange for four future second-round draft picks and cash considerations.
Thus far leading into the NBA’s season suspension, Garland and Porter have shown promise, and while Garland, in particular, has had his struggles, he still has shown good playmaking feel and him becoming just the second Cavs rookie to hit 100 three-pointers in a season and canning 105 triples in just 59 games, as noted by Basketball Reference, has been encouraging.
Meanwhile, as a bench contributor on most occasions, Porter has flashed a boatload of potential already and has seemingly the highest ceiling of any the Cavs’ youngsters, also including Collin Sexton in that mix.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see what Windler can bring for Cleveland yet, as he hasn’t appeared for the Cavs at all in 2019-20, due to complications involved with a stress reaction in his left leg, and he was previously ruled out the rest of the season. Even with the season potentially resuming at some point, I still wouldn’t expect Windler to play this go-round, either.
With it being uncertain if the NBA’s current season will eventually come back or not, though, let’s take a gander at the burning question for next season for each of member of the Cavs’ 2019 draft class, beginning with Garland.
Can Garland create separation consistently off-the-bounce next season?
Garland has again, had his struggles on many occasions throughout this season, and his assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.52 has been a bit underwhelming, and though he has led Cleveland with 3.9 assists per game, far too often, he’s forced in passes leading to live-ball turnovers.
More from King James Gospel
- 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
- 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
On the plus side, Garland, who only played in five games in his collegiate career at Vanderbilt due to a meniscus tear, has still shown nice handling ability and his vision and execution on wrap-around passes and in still on many occasions, lobs, has been nice to see.
Nonetheless, while Garland potentially may not have been himself just yet in terms of full capacity in relation to quickness, what is the key draw with Garland for Cleveland is what he could do down the road as a pull-up shooter and feasibly, initiator for others.
Garland having 12.3 points on 47.8 percent effective field goal shooting has been alright on the surface, but of course, the Cavs are hoping that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what he could develop into.
What’s coincided with that for me, is the burning question for Garland next season in that can he create separation more consistently off-the-bounce leading to quality offense for himself and others?
Though it’s not exceptional, him having an effective field goal shooting clip of 44.5 percent on pull-ups on a hefty 45.1 percent frequency, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, is a positive.
Also, him hitting 39.2 percent on catch-and-shoot triple attempts indicates that he’ll help open up driving lanes for Collin Sexton, Porter, feasibly Cedi Osman and perhaps the mid-post area for Kevin Love (if he’s still with Cleveland down the road) and lobs/low-post touches for Larry Nance Jr. and possibly Andre Drummond. I’d imagine there’s a high possibility Drummond opts into his $28.8 million player option for next season, too, and he and Garland could play off each other better with more experience together.
To me, though, for Garland to eventually hit near his ceiling, which is seemingly very high as a pull-up shooter and playmaker with good feel and vision, he’ll need to generate separation off-the-bounce more consistently, and of course, find a way to be more competent on-ball defensively against opposing guards.
Perhaps with him being able to get stronger hopefully in the time leading up to next season (whenever that is) for finishing inside the paint and adding more explosive quickness, we could see Garland, who has shown he can change speeds pretty well, be able to generate more separation next season.
If that’s the case for him, I’d expect him to be more efficient and he’d be much more dangerous as a passer in being able to draw more help from opponents, and feasibly be able to take advantage more as a pick-and-roll ball-handler when bigs are switched out on to him.
Secondly, let’s take a look at the burning question for Windler next season.
Can Windler improve the Cavs’ shooting off of movement next season?
As was previously mentioned, Windler has not played at all with the Cavaliers in 2019-20 due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg. Considering that, I wouldn’t expect him to be a bunch off the bench at least seemingly for a good bit into next season.
However, if Windler does get into game shape, and I believe he eventually will, he could be a solid contributor for the Cleveland Cavaliers, as a catch-and-shoot perimeter player, in particular.
In a four-year career at Belmont, the 6-foot-6 Windler was able to connect on 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts, including a 42.9 percent hit rate in his senior season, and he had 21.9 points per outing in his last collegiate season, per Sports Reference.
Moreover, the burning question for Windler to me for 2020-21 is can he improve Cleveland’s shooting off of movement/off screens?
It’s not as if that’s been completely nonexistent for the Cavaliers, as especially post-All-Star break in the time J.B. Bickerstaff took the head coaching reigns, Cleveland’s ball movement was much better, and it freed up pieces such as Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and a bit here and there, Sexton, in terms of shooting off of movement and/or in the off screen game.
Windler did show he’s highly capable of shooting off of movement in college, and though it was at Belmont, I believe he could definitely bring much more of that capability to Cleveland’s offense next season as a rotational wing.
Osman, again, has flashed some of that this year, and Sexton, and to an extent, Garland, have been able to knock down pull-ups after curling around screens, which has been a plus. Hopefully with Windler in the fold, though, Cleveland’s offense can have more off-movement shooting/more off-screen volume than 4.0 possessions per game next year, of which they placed in the 59th percentile in terms of efficiency, as they’ve had this season, according to Synergy Sports.
Granted, Windler is an instinctive cutter, good athlete and would add a sound positional rebounder and solid ball-mover to Cleveland’s rotation as well. Most importantly, though, if he can bring more of a movement shooting element to Cleveland, and not simply be a floor spacer, it’d make his impact much greater and open up more rolling/slipping opportunities for Nance, Love and/or Drummond, too.
At any rate, this isn’t a sure-fire expectation for Windler as a going-to-be-rookie who will probably take some time to get acclimated to the NBA game, especially from a defensive perspective, and he’ll likely need some time to learn how to manipulate screens to really get shots off easily and with volume at this level.
Thirdly, we’ll move on to the burning question for Porter next season.
Can Porter be more efficient on pull-ups next season?
Porter again has been very solid in his rookie season at least as still just a 19-year-old. On the season, he’s averaged 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals in just 23.2 minutes per game, according to NBA.com.
Porter’s likely Cleveland’s best athlete on their roster at the moment, and I’ve been fairly surprised by him having an assist rate of 14.7 percent this season, and while he is prone to some unnecessary dribbling, leading into turnovers, what he’s shown leads me to believe he has a high ceiling as a pick-and-roll creator, too. Plus, his cutting feel has been a bright spot.
Porter I’d expect to definitely be playing more minutes on average next season, where under Bickerstaff and company, the dynamic playmaker should only get better with more experience. I also firmly believe, given him showing improved team defensive feel as the season has progressed leading into the season’s suspension and him being so athletic and with a solid 6-foot-9 wingspan, that KPJ could be the Cavs’ best defender in the near future.
In regards to the burning question for Porter, though, to me it’s can he be more efficient on pull-ups next season?
On the year, Porter has only had an effective field goal shooting clip of 34.0 percent, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and that’s been on a healthy 37.0 percent frequency. KPJ has also only hit 25.7 percent of his pull-ups triple attempts, but what has been a regular occurrence is Porter getting more than adequate separation on his pull-up attempts.
He has shown flashes of being able to go off and get hot when it comes to pull-up shooting, though, and next season, hopefully with more experience, Porter can hit more regularly as a pull-up shooter.
If he can do that, with his playmaking upside, ambidextrous finishing acumen on short range looks and/or at the rim, and also factoring in his power, which has played into him hitting 71.8 percent from 0-3 feet out, Porter could feasibly be a 14.0-15.0-plus point scorer next season. That’s under the assumption that he’ll have more minutes-share, which I’d think he will.
Hopefully, Porter can stay mostly healthy next year as well, though. He missed a ten-game stretch in January due to a left knee sprain and had missed Cleveland’s last three games leading into the season’s suspension due to a concussion. The same goes for Garland, who missed Cleveland’s last five games leading into the season’s suspension due to a left groin strain.
Anyway, if KPJ can hit his pull-ups more regularly in 2020-21, he’s going to be even tougher to handle for opponents.