Cavs: Dylan Windler should help Kevin Porter Jr. in off-ball progression

Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. should mesh well for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Next season, a player that should really help open up the floor more for Kevin Porter Jr. should be Dylan Windler. Windler, no, did not appear in game action for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season due to injury, but he recently said he feels at “90-plus percent,” via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

So, one would assume that we should see Windler out there next season, also considering that he seemingly made a splash at the Cavs voluntary in-market bubble team workouts/scrimmages.

Once again, from my perspective, Windler, I’d imagine in a key bench role next season at the 2/3, should aid Porter. Windler, who hit 40.6 percent of his 534 three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, has the makings of a knockdown shooter.

That’s seemingly via spot-ups, handoffs/off movement and is even a highly capable pull-up threat. Windler should be able to help space the floor for KPJ as an on-ball threat in minutes together on the floor, along with pieces such as Larry Nance Jr., Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Kevin Love, among others.

Here, though, we’ll focus on Porter more so, and one area, in particular, where Windler could aid in KPJ’s onward progression, but without the basketball.

Porter showed improved cutting feel as his rookie year wore on, and while he’ll clearly be a key on-ball player both as a scorer and passer, continued off-ball growth would pay dividends for KPJ, too. And Windler should only help in that.

Windler should help KPJ in his off-ball progression for the Cavaliers.

Dylan Windler could seemingly play a good share of minutes alongside Kevin Porter Jr., who I’d still expect to be mostly a bench contributor next season. Albeit Porter should end up playing a starting minute-share on plenty of occasions, anyway, with the on-ball creation ability he displayed in year 1.

So how could Windler help KPJ in his off-ball progression for Cleveland, then?

Windler is a dude that can shoot it from Akron and has a quick release, which should translate, sure, but Windler has a nice handle, and is more than capable of making plays for others.

And to me, Porter could be a prime target for Windler in that realm, and while Porter will clearly be one of Cleveland’s top on-ball threats, he again showed real growth off-ball as his year 1 progressed.

With that in mind, and with them seemingly having a chance to play considerable minutes together next season, I could see Porter getting his share of cutting looks off of deliveries from Windler, who has nice feel for hitting cutters and can hit passes over-the-top.

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While I acknowledge that Windler will take some time to get fully acclimated to his teammates, he is again, a more than capable secondary playmaker, and had a respectable assist rate of 15.2 and 13.6 percent in his last two seasons at Belmont.

So long as Dylan doesn’t overextend himself in that regard too much, with attention he could seemingly draw as a shooter via hard closeouts to catch-and-shoots and pull-ups, he could find Porter for cutting looks near the rim. And even at times, some lob passes, of which Windler can hit, could be there for KPJ.

Porter, for further context, albeit the frequency was not huge at 5.7 percent, did place in the 93rd percentile in cutting scoring situations, per Synergy Sports.

The shooting presence of Windler on the floor with him a bunch should only aid in further off-ball/cutting progression, too, with how Windler should, similarly to Nance, be a highly capable secondary playmaker in his minutes-share.

Lastly, while I wouldn’t necessarily expect it nearly as much as the other way with KPJ hitting Windler on the perimeter, or realistically Darius Garland to Dylan, Windler should get some extra passes from ball-swings to Porter.

And KPJ hit 40.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts in 2019-20, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and further spot-up progression would only aid Porter as a driver/playmaker.

Plenty of minutes alongside a shooter the caliber of Windler, given his passing feel and willingness, too, should only help KPJ in his off-ball progression for the Cleveland Cavaliers.