Dylan Windler hasn’t played much for the Cleveland Cavaliers, obviously. Windler of course did not appear last season with the Cavs, in what was formally his rookie season, due to complications involving a stress reaction in his lower left leg.
Windler also, in another bout of rough luck, fractured the fourth metacarpal in his left hand in Cleveland’s first game this season against the Charlotte Hornets. He would then miss Cleveland’s next 13 games.
Albeit he was reportedly fine for Wednesday’s game versus the Brooklyn Nets, but wasn’t available because of the league’s hardship exception rules, in relation to Cleveland waiving Yogi Ferrell previously.
Fortunately for Windler and the Cavs, Dylan was able to get in there for some rotational run on Friday, which was again against the Nets. And I thought he played well in his burn.
Windler’s play for the Cavs on Friday versus the Nets was encouraging.
Windler was seemingly a bit out of rhythm in preseason in the shooting sense, and only hit 25.0 percent of his three-point attempts in those four appearances. Clearly, though, there was going to be rust for him, and there still will be some rough outings from to time to time for him as a shooter, given the lack of experience with the Cavs.
That said, Windler in those preseason outings I thought was aiding Cleveland defensively, moving without the ball well and making some heady passes in settled offense. Plus, his rebounding capabilities were a positive when needed, too.
Looking at Windler’s performance on Friday versus Brooklyn, in his return for the Cavs, I thought it was an encouraging one, looking onward, also. Windler’s scoring of six points wasn’t wowing anybody, but it was nice to see him hit both of his shot attempts, both being three-point looks, given this was first game back from that first outing injury.
The first one being a trailing triple moving into it in secondary transition following a Taurean Prince chasedown block was particulary good to see, from my perspective, too. Windler’s abilities in the open floor in that way could lead to some easy early-clock offense for Cleveland at times.
Defense ➡️ offense. This is @cavs basketball!#CavsNets | #BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/UUO74qZj5r
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 23, 2021
The Belmont product in Windler, who hit 40.6 percent of his 4.2 triple attempts per outing in a four-year collegiate career there, should help provide more off-movement shooting for the Cavs. And again, that trailing triple was a very positive sign, and hopefully we see more of that sort of thing as he gets more comfortable in his opportunities.
From there, in the non-shooting realm, Windler, who has impressive defensive rebounding feel/positional sense, had six rebounds, all defensive, in his 16 minutes on Friday for Cleveland. He had a steal and an assist, to go with that.
In a general sense, though, with his ability to aid those around him even without the ball/as an off-ball contributor/cutter, but also as a ball-mover/rebounder, it’s apparent that Windler should be a seamless fit with a number of Cavs players.
Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Nance, Kevin Love, when he’s back (right calf strain/reaggravation), Jarrett Allen and others come to mind involving that with Windler, for instance. And defensively, he’ll be pretty competent, especially in the team/rotational realm, I believe, too.
Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff seemingly highlighted that overall regarding Dylan after Cleveland’s W on Friday, of which the Nets were sans Kevin Durant, this time, though (Achilles), via Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword. Comparing him to Nance in that way is understandable, and fans will feel that way soon enough.
“It was awesome to have him back out on the floor. He’s a similar player to Larry where he keeps both sides of the ball moving. He makes the game easier for everybody else.”
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) January 23, 2021
J.B. Bickerstaff on #Cavs rookie forward Dylan Windler
It was nice to see Darius Garland, who missed Cleveland’s past eight games leading into that one due to a right shoulder sprain, get some burn, too. That was, in that one, in 22 minutes off the bench to seemingly ease him in more, but he’ll get going more in coming games I’d imagine.
With Windler, though, we’ll have to see what the minutes-share will typically be for him, also factoring in Isaac Okoro, Prince and Cedi Osman, who has done an admirable job as a key secondary playmaker.
Albeit provided he can stay mostly healthy (knock on wood), it’s evident that Windler should help open up things more when he’s in there for others.
That Friday outing, all things considered, was an encouraging one for Windler/the Cavs, and hopefully, he can be a meaningful contributor game-to-game looking onward.