Cavs: A Dylan Windler-Obi Toppin 2-man game would be promising

The 2020 NBA Draft for the Cleveland Cavaliers is on Wednesday, and as is the case every year, the rumors are flying.

One rumor/scenario that has been out there for some time is the Cleveland Cavaliers going after Obi Toppin in next week’s draft. Cleveland held an in-person workout with the Dayton forward and also held virtual meetings with Toppin, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

The reaction to Cleveland potentially selecting Toppin is a mixed bag. Some think he’s a great fit as a polished offensive player, of which KJG’s Tyler Shelt highlighted, while others believe his lack of defensive abilities is a big red flag.

Regardless of where you stand on Toppin, he is very much in the mix for Cleveland when they are on the clock next Wednesday. The Athletic‘s Jason Lloyd (subscription required) reported on Friday that as of now, he gets the sense that the Cavaliers have seemingly narrowed the No. 5 pick down to Toppin or Deni Avdija.

And if that’s the case, one two man-game, in particular, would be one to watch involving Toppin.

If Toppin is the prospect the Cavs pick, he and Dylan Windler would create a promising two-man game.

I will preface this by saying that Cleveland needs help on the defensive side of the ball, and Toppin likely does not solve that issue. But for this scenario, we will be looking at what Toppin can provide on offense.

While Dylan Windler has yet to play in an NBA game for the Cavaliers, he does offer a lot of promise for their future. Windler made his name from beyond the arc, hitting nearly 43 percent from beyond the arc as a senior.

Where Toppin could be a key factor in a two-man game with Windler is his ability to score in a variety of ways. If Toppin is a factor in scoring from inside the arc (69.8 percent from 2-point range last year at Dayton), that could potentially draw the defense to Toppin and leave Windler open beyond the arc.

Toppin was a willing passer at Dayton and showed great court vision at times (he averaged 2.2 assists as a sophomore), and could make teams pay for crashing to help and leaving Windler open.

However, Windler does not only hit from beyond the arc. He is an effective cutter and placed in the 96th percentile in halfcourt shots around the rim as a senior at Belmont, per Synergy Sports and as h/t NBA.com.

If Toppin is operating on the perimeter and is a force down there, teams have to respect his ability to either shoot from outside or look to make a play, and that is when he could find Windler on a cut for an easy look near the hoop.

But this could work both ways. Windler displayed a good handle while at Belmont, and he could be effective with Toppin in the pick-and-roll. Toppin showed quite a bit of explosiveness around the rim last season at Dayton, and getting him easy looks off of lobs (Toppin has a 7-foot-2 wingspan) would be a terrific way to utilize one of his best strengths, in vertical athleticism.

Windler also could be effective as the ball-handler in a two-man game because he did average 2.7 assists as a senior at Belmont, so the playmaking ability, at least in a secondary sense, is clearly there.

To swing back, though, one should expect to see Toppin create his share of looks for Windler, in operation out of the high/mid-post, of which he could target Windler coming around screens/via skip feeds.

And Toppin could help generate plenty of looks for Dylan via handoffs and get him some dropoff feeds in the secondary transition game, in the case if Toppin were to be selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Having two players on a team like Windler and Toppin are nice to have in today’s NBA game. They both can play multiple positions, meaning you can use them in several lineups as they can score from a number of areas and are both willing and capable passers.

Overall, this duo would be promising on the offensive end, but as stated several times, Cleveland needs to focus more on improving their defense, and to aid players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. looking onward.

Can Toppin turn into just an average defender? Possibly, given his work ethic and athletic ability.

But his offensive ability is definitely NBA-ready, and a potential two-man game with Toppin and Windler would be promising. It would also give the Cavaliers more playmakers beyond Sexton, Garland, and Porter Jr.