Cavs: Dylan Windler’s off-ball presence could be his biggest contribution

Dylan Windler is going to make a splash for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Next season, we should see Dylan Windler be an impact player in his minutes-share for the Cleveland Cavaliers. No, Windler did not appear for the Cavs in game action in what was supposed to be his rookie season in 2019-20 due to what was deemed a stress fracture in his left leg.

Windler should be ready to roll next season, though, and was a full participant in the Cavs voluntary in-market bubble team workouts last month, and seemingly made quite a showing for himself.

So, while I’d expect Windler to take some time to get fully acclimated, I’d imagine he should be a key bench contributor even pretty early on for Cleveland.

Windler hit 217 of 534 of his three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, a 40.6 percent clip. He also had 21.3 points per outing as a senior in 2018-19, and he hit 3.0 of his 7.1 triple attempts per contest, a 42.9 percent clip, that season.

Furthermore, per Synergy Sports and as h/t NBA.com, Windler placed in the 85th percentile in pull-ups in the halfcourt that season. To me, his overall shooting repertoire, most notably, albeit more in a bench role at the 2/3 I’d assume in year 1, will enable him to make a splash.

Somewhat coincided with that, though, is how his off-ball presence should again, help open up those on the floor with him more. And that’s the crucial aspect of the game involving Windler that I’m so pumped about.

Windler’s off-ball presence could be his biggest contribution for the Cavs.

For the Wine and Gold, with his shooting capabilities, Windler should be a key floor spacer for Cleveland. That should pay dividends for Kevin Porter Jr. and Collin Sexton, for instance, and for bigs such as Larry Nance Jr. and Kevin Love, among others.

Of course, Windler will need to hit his share of looks, seemingly mostly off-the-catch, early on in his minutes on the floor for that to be the case.

That said, I’m confident that Windler should be able to do so, as he truly is a really polished shooter, when it comes to standard spot-ups, which he should get some of via ball-swings, to go with shooting off movement.

And when the chances arise, I’d expect Windler to knock down some pull-ups, which would make closing out to him that much more stressful on opposing defenses. I don’t discount Windler’s finishing and cutting capabilities, either, though, and that should counter his shooting very well when he’s out there.

Moreover, factoring in his shooting, ability to move without the ball and open up looks in that way, both on the perimeter and on the interior, I could frankly see Windler’s biggest contribution perhaps being his off-ball presence. That’s with the attention that could draw if he can be efficient as a shooter, and be useful as a cutter to again, counter that.

Lastly, Windler’s good passing feel and his willingness in that way could only make his off-ball presence more meaningful, and if there’s especially hard closeouts to him, or if the looks aren’t there, he’s more than capable of hitting cutters and/or bigs over-the-top if that’s there.

In any case, with Windler’s floor spacing prowess and potential knockdown shooting, to further drive it home, his off-ball presence could end up being his biggest contribution.

That’s when you consider how ball denial to him, also, could really help open up more of the floor for others on the floor with him. Hopefully, Windler stays healthy, though, albeit I believe he will.