Dylan Windler had hit a rough patch as a shooter, along with a number of Cleveland Cavaliers players, for much of that 10-game losing streak for the Wine and Gold.
It was of course not all on him during that stretch, as the Cavs have had their share of injuries still, and not having Kevin Love at all since Dec. 27 hasn’t helped from a spacing/perimeter shooting standpoint offensively. Perhaps we’ll see him in action fairly soon, though, and that should aid guys like Windler when he is back.
Anyway, in regards to Windler, he again had issues shooting-wise for much of that 10-game losing streak, of which he was active in nine of them. In that span, he had 6.3 points in 19.5 minutes per outing, but only shot 22.2 percent from three-point range.
After that streak, Windler had only hit 30.4 percent of his three-point attempts per game on the season, which, even while he was not active at all last season due to complications involving a stress reaction in his lower left leg, was underwhelming. He did miss 13 games because of a fractured left hand in which was suffered in the season opener, too, though.
Nonetheless, Windler throughout the season has rebounded well, as evidenced by him having a robust 7.4 boards per-36 minutes. Windler’s defense against opposing guards and wings has been a positive, too, as KJG’s Tyler Shelt seemingly alluded to, and his finishing has been as well.
But all of that said, it has been nice to have seen Windler get a few games of late to get himself in a better shooting rhythm off-the-catch from the perimeter.
In wins against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday and Houston Rockets on Wednesday, the Cavs clearly were getting things moving, and Windler hit nine consecutive three-point looks. That put him in elite company, regarding the Cavs’ context then, via Fox Sports Ohio/Cleveland.
https://twitter.com/FOXSportsCLE/status/1364774503914622979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1364774503914622979%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkingjamesgospel.com%2F2021%2F02%2F26%2Fcleveland-cavaliers-lamar-stevens-continues-provide-energy%2F
That obviously helped juice up his three-point shooting hit rate, which following those outings, was 41.8 percent on the year. I get that, and Windler was 0-for-4 from deep in Saturday’s overtime W at the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, but him seemingly getting more looks in the flow of things, and benefiting from getting more in-rhythm it appeared off-movement aided him.
Perhaps he can get going here moving forward.
Windler is building up some momentum heading into the second half of the Cavs season.
Windler, to that last point, after the Hawks game, when he had his career-high with 15 points on five-of-five shooting from deep, touched on how he was better off from getting more in-rhythm from movement before his shots, via Spencer Davies of Basketballnews.com.
That was as opposed to simply spacing the floor from the corners, and was in-line with how he had success at Belmont, where he hit 40.6 percent from deep in a four-year collegiate career.
Dylan Windler: "It's a lot easier to make shots when you're moving first as opposed to just spacing out in the corner and running up and down." #Cavs @basketbllnews pic.twitter.com/AF31hdxXN6
— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) February 24, 2021
Granted, with Windler, there will still likely be some ups and downs for him the rest of the way, and for a guy that’s dealt with the injury luck he’s had so far in his Cavs career, I understand that in a reserve wing role.
That happens, especially on a team that plays so many young pieces key minutes, and he again, cooled off on Saturday, but Windler did end up with eight points otherwise and had six boards, to go with three steals.
For Windler, though, he is seemingly beginning to get more comfortable game-to-game, and getting Kevin Love back, I believe, should aid guys like Windler when he’s in with him, from a spacing, to go with movement and secondary playmaking standpoint.
Those two, particularly off-ball, should help each other out when Windler’s in with Love in the second half, and the two are both capable and willing passers. Plus, I’d think the likes of Garland, Collin Sexton/Cedi Osman, and to some extent Isaac Okoro, can help find both off movement.
And again, on another positive note, Windler has been very productive as a finisher, which hopefully, if he can have more consistency game-to-game, can only be more prevalent if he can string together 4-5-game stretches when he is getting looks to go.
Windler, I’d expect from a spot-up standpoint as he continues to play alongside other Cavs in the second half will be able to knock in more shots as simply a floor spacer, too, anyhow. Albeit getting him looks still, when he’s in there 18-20 or so minutes per outing regularly, feasibly, in varying lineups, I’d hope is a point of emphasis in the second half as well.
In any case, it appears that Dylan is building up some momentum heading into the second half of the season for the Wine and Gold, which is encouraging.
The Cavs, for what it’s worth, have two more games at the Rockets on Monday and versus the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday before the league’s March 5-10 All-Star break. From there, they’ll begin their season’s second half on March 12 at the New Orleans Pelicans.