Cavs: Dylan Windler insurance is seller for FA target Garrison Mathews

At this juncture, we know Dylan Windler has had injury issues with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Windler’s rookie campaign was wiped out because of a stress fracture in his lower left leg, and last season, he appeared in just 31 games. He had a fourth left metacarpal fracture early on, and unfortunately, his season would end up being cut short from left knee to address “ongoing patella tendinopathy concerns.”

He would initially miss games with what was designated as knee soreness in late March, but that was dragged out and Windler would have the said surgery in late April.

On a positive note, Windler is reportedly on schedule with his recovery, and could seemingly be on track for preseason action. His hope is reportedly to be set to go for 5-on-5 action in training camp; we’ll have to see there.

That said, while I do believe Windler can be a contributor for Cleveland’s bench as a shooter, the Cavs still would be wise to add a wing via team-friendly deal in free agency.

Options as potential/rumored targets such as Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, James Ennis III and Garrison Mathews come to mind in that realm, and per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Cleveland has “some interest” in Denzel Valentine. Fedor did state that the Cavaliers could look to acquire a wing target via trade, though.

Larry Nance Jr. is rumored to be a potential trade candidate, in that sense, however, Nance is valuable for Cleveland, and he could still have a meaningful role. Could he possibly be moved? It seems that way, per Fedor’s report, and the Cavs do not appear willing to trade their 2022 first-round pick, regardless of protections, based on that report.

Even still, Nance is valuable when healthy, and he can affect games in a number of ways.

So getting that out there, perhaps a low-cost option could be Mathews, who could still give Cleveland a lift off the bench, and did just that for the Washington Wizards last season. He could provide some insurance seemingly for Windler, who again has had problems staying healthy.

Windler insurance is a selling point for Mathews.

When I’m referring to Windler insurance, it’s along the lines of a Mathews signing could hedge against potential health issues for Dylan, which unfortunately the Cavs have to have in mind.

I do believe Windler can be a productive bench piece for Cleveland, as he hit 40.6 percent from three-point range in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, and flashed deep shooting last season.

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His cutting finishing, team defensive capabilites and rebounding (7.5 boards per-36 minutes in 2020-21) were positives as well. But the health is obviously the concern, and Windler wasn’t able to consistently get in a rhythm.

That brings one to Mathews, in particular. He could provide bench shooting pop for the Wine and Gold, and while he could have some playing time with Windler, or Cedi Osman, he was a sniper in college at Lipscomb, and was a knockdown guy for the Wizards.

Although he was a two-way contributor for Washington the past two seasons and has had 5.5 points per outing in a reserve role, he knocked in 41.3 percent of his deep balls, albeit in 18 games in 2019-20, but built on that.

Last season, he hit still a robust 38.4 percent from three on 3.1 attempts in 16.2 minutes per game, and could provide Cleveland with a valuable floor spacer and movement shooter for stretches off the bench at the 2 or 3.

Taking that into account, and with the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Mathews being a solid on-ball defender that gives 100 percent effort as a rotator as well, he could be valuable insurance for Cleveland with the injury-prone Windler in mind.

And Mathews could allow Cleveland to hedge against relying on Osman, who has had his share of inconsistencies with his impact the past two seasons, to a degree. Of course, last season, him shifting to a bench role I do acknowledge as some rationale, in fairness.

In any case, with the uncertainty with Windler, even with him at times potentially being able to play with Mathews, I would be more than on-board with Cleveland signing Mathews as Windler insurance, given the injury concerns.

I do believe Windler can be end up being a good bench player for the Cavs, especially if he can start out well next season, but adding a player depth-wise in Mathews would be sensible via team-friendly deal. That’s also with the ups and downs with Osman in that regard.

Cleveland could seemingly look to add Mathews via say a sizable chunk of the $3.2 million bi-annual exception or maybe via two-year, $6 or so million deal with part of the $9.5 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The point is, he wouldn’t cost much.

And he could very well be a quality rotational shooter for the Cavs for stretches at the 2 and 3, and frankly, if Mathews were to make Windler and/or Osman feasibly expendable looking onward, so be it.

We’ll have to see if the 24-year-old, who will be in his age-25 season in 2021-22, and whose qualifying offer was rescinded to seemingly help faciliate a sign-and-trade acquisition of Spencer Dinwiddie, could be signed by the Cavs.