Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 players that have something to prove next season
By Dan Gilinsky
Dylan Windler
This is another related to the injury bug.
Dylan Windler was a player that the Cavs were hoping could be a nice piece for their rotation in 2019-20, and he was set to be the primary backup at the 3 for Cedi Osman.
Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor recently touched on how Windler could feasibly have taken over at some point this season at the starting small forward spot for Osman, who has been fairly underwhelming overall.
It’s pretty clear now that ideally, Osman should not be starting for Cleveland on most occasions but l do believe he’ll be a nice bench piece.
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Windler has not played at all in what is formally his rookie campaign, though, due to complications with a stress reaction in his left leg, and considering he had surgery related to that in January, even factoring in a potential return of the NBA season, Windler’s likely done until next season, anyhow.
I do think he’ll eventually get his NBA legs under him and be able to contribute as potentially a key piece of the Cavs’ rotation, though. That includes as a heady rebounder, too.
Windler could provide a good cutter and ambidextrous finisher, pull-up/off-screen shooting threat and solid ball-mover in settled offense if he can get be mostly healthier, and I could definitely see the current 23-year-old establish himself as perhaps the Cavs’ most important bench player in the near future.
That mostly relates to the way Windler could space the floor for Sexton, Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., Nance and others.
Related Story. How Dylan Windler can bolster the Cavs' bench production next season. light
The smooth-shooting lefty shot 40.6 percent in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, and next season if he can get his legs under him, I firmly believe Windler could really improve Cleveland’s off/screen shooting and shooting off of movement.
Whether it’s fair to say or not, though, it’s unclear at this point as to if Windler can have a notable impact, and again, let’s hope he can be mostly healthy next season. At any rate, my best guess is the Belmont product will indeed establish himself as a key bench contributor.