Looking at next season, Dylan Windler should provide the Cleveland Cavaliers with a key floor spacing presence/shooter off the bench.
At this point, the 2019-20 season was a tough one for Cleveland Cavaliers wing Dylan Windler. Windler, as Cavs fans know, did not play at all in what was supposed to be his rookie campaign.
That was really unfortunate, as Windler I believe would’ve provided a real floor spacing/shooting element to the Cavaliers off the bench.
He shot 40.6 percent from three-point range in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, and also hit 42.9 percent of his deep ball attempts in his senior season, in what were 7.1 attempts per game, per Sports Reference.
The silky smooth 6-foot-6 wing can really shoot it from the perimeter, and has a nice handle as well that enables him to hit his share of pull-ups, and hopefully, next season, he’s ready to roll.
Windler missed the 2019-20 campaign due to complications regarding a stress reaction in his left leg, and it will take the 23-year-old some time to get his legs under him and get adjusted to his teammates.
After some time, though, I imagine we’ll see Windler establish himself as one of the Cavs’ most dangerous shooters. Coupled with that, I believe that will relate to the off-movement variety, too.
So what’s a key goal for next season for Windler, then?
A key 2020-21 goal for Windler is hitting 37.0 percent of his three-point attempts for the Cleveland Cavaliers and looped into that, putting up 8.5 points per game.
While again I’d expect Windler to take a bit to get his legs under him and get comfortable, he has a clean shooting stroke and has very deep range.
I definitely think that also factoring in his cutting ability and ambidextrous finishing touch, that he should mesh really well in instances alongside pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr., Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr. and feasibly Alfonzo McKinnie.
Plus, with it seemingly a good possibility he could be re-signed, Matthew Dellavedova could very well have a great connection with Windler in instances together on the floor with Delly’s ability to hit cutters and shooters on-time so instinctively, too.
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Moreover, with Windler’s range and touch/polish as a shooter and with him seemingly being in line to be a particularly effective relocation player and I could also see roller at times (along with Cedi Osman), the above three-point shooting goal seems attainable.
It’d indicate Windler has plenty of potential as a key floor spacer in years to come for Cleveland, too, at least in a rotational sense in feasibly appearing at the 2/3 position.
To me, a goal of hitting 37.0 percent from three-point range with Windler’s shooting ability, which I believe could translate some in the pick-and-roll game against bigs switched out onto him, is a reasonable one.
It’s hard to project the volume for Windler, as I wouldn’t expect him to have more than say, 3.5 attempts per outing.
Granted, Windler hitting roughly 1.3 three-pointers per game off the bench on 3.5 attempts, to go with quality cutting and productive ball movement/some secondary playmaking would show he’s contributing in a meaningful way off the bench.
Along with that, though, I could see Windler take on more of an on-ball creation role as the season moves along, and to ease some burden on Porter in some stretches of games. That’d relate to ball moving, sure, but with Windler also being polished in the pull-up game, him hitting some of those as well at least after on/off-ball screens seems fair to assume.
KJG’s Grant Puskar believes floor spacing/consistent shooting from Windler are realistic expectations for next year, and I agree. I thought setting a key goal related to that and 8.5 points per outing would be noteworthy here, though, playing off that, albeit either way, I do wholeheartedly agree with Grant. For context, I looped the efficiency from deep and the scoring into one goal.
Windler is a player that should really play well off again the likes of Delly if he’s back, KPJ and others, and with Nance’s playmaking ability for a big, Windler’s feel off-ball should lead to quite a nice two-man game for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To reinforce a bit here, Windler is a highly capable as a finisher near the basket with both hands, is a very good athlete and can finish on floaters/runners, too. I’d expect him to take advantage of defenders overplaying his perimeter shot, and in turn, leading him to get a few buckets per game inside the arc.
Anyhow, if he hit 37.0 percent of his deep ball attempts next season and/or averaged 8.5 points per game, that’d be great to see from my perspective. Most notably, Windler’s shooting ability should help open up driving lanes for others.