Dylan Windler should help the Cleveland Cavaliers immensely.
For Cleveland Cavaliers fans, they likely understand the narrative when it comes to Dylan Windler now.
Windler was not able to appear in 2019-20 for Cleveland due to complications involving a stress reaction in his lower left leg, of which would be deemed a stress fracture and eventually was surgically repaired.
On the plus side for Windler, he recently was a full participant in the Cavaliers in-market bubble voluntary team workouts, which was noteworthy. Windler, based on recent reports, made his presence felt in a big way in 5-on-5 scrimmaging, and what immediately jumped out from those was Windler’s shooting.
Windler hit 40.6 percent of his 534 career three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, which included him hitting 42.9 percent of his 7.1 deep tries per outing as a senior in 2018-19.
Windler’s ability to knock down perimeter looks via spot-ups, shots off movement and his quick release and big-time range should make a difference for Cleveland’s offense, provided he can stay healthy.
I’d imagine he very well will, too, and let’s not discount Windler’s finishing capabilities with both hands, his polished pull-up game, his cutting feel and him having the makings of a solid secondary playmaker. That last bit I’d like to discuss more so here as well, looking at next season/onward.
Windler could be sought out as a stabilizer for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although a career average of 2.0 assists per outing at Belmont didn’t necessarily illuminate it, Windler is a player that should help out the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr. and others as a playmaking option.
Windler’s a productive ball-mover, and more so as the season progresses, and he gets more comfortable in his minutes-share, the Cavs could eventually seek out Windler as a stabilizer. Him having an assist rate of 15.2 percent and 13.6 percent in his last two seasons at Belmont was encouraging in that realm.
And while there were some turnovers at times, in this sense, as Windler gets more on the same page with other pieces, they could look to him more to help gets others in their spots and/or initiate productive ball-swings.
Windler obviously has key floor spacing potential with his range, him placing in the 85th percentile on halfcourt pull-ups as a senior, per Synergy Sports and as h/t NBA.com, and his off movement shooting ability is something I’m really excited for.
But again, Windler could feasibly be a stabilizing presence for the Wine and Gold as he steadily gets more acclimated in there alongside Cleveland’s notable young pieces, Kevin Love, likely Andre Drummond and/or Larry Nance Jr.
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Windler has more on-ball capability than Cedi Osman, and whether or not Windler eventually does take over at Cleveland’s starting 3, of which we’ll have to see on, also considering Cleveland could draft a wing, that should only make him more impactful offensively.
So to reiterate, while Windler’s primary role will seemingly be as more of a shooter off-the-catch, I could definitely see them seeking him out as he gets more comfortable as a stabilizer.
Windler, who has impressive feel when it comes to finding passes over the top, and I’d imagine will initiate his share of productive ball-swings with defenders closing hard to him, could really be a nice security blanket.
From my perspective, given his on-ball capabilities, Windler could be a player that could be a pick-and-roll ball handling option at times to allow the likes of KPJ and Sexton to function off-ball in some instances more, too.
And Windler could get the offense reset/make quality entries to the likes of Kevin Love in the mid-post/Nance at the elbow and/or Drummond inside. Again, early on, I wouldn’t expect this as much, but Windler could very well end up being a stabilizing presence/outlet for the Cavaliers in settled offense.
Plus, him being a very active rebounder (7.8 per game at Belmont) and projecting as a legitimate grab-and-go threat further proves he should be much more than just a catch-and-shoot player for the Wine and Gold.
Let’s hope Dylan Windler is ready to roll and stays healthy next season to provide plenty of help in his minutes at likely the 2 and 3 spots, though.