Cavs: J.B. Bickerstaff’s comments show how Dylan Windler can provide lift

Cleveland Cavaliers fans are well aware that Dylan Windler has had injury struggles so far in his two seasons with the team.

Windler missed all of the 2019-20 campaign because of a stress fracture in his lower left leg, and last season, a COVID-19-affected season aside, he was active in just 31 games. Early on, he was sidelined due to a fourth left metacarpal fracture on his left hand, and later on, his season was eventually cut short in relation to a left knee injury.

Windler would have surgery to address “ongoing tendinopathy concerns” regarding that, which was another rough way for his season to end once again. In his games active, he had 5.2 points in 16.5 minutes per contest, but was underwhelming from three, where he shot 33.8 percent.

On the plus side, Windler is seemingly set to go here, and per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com last weekend, Windler had been participating in voluntary scrimmaging with other Cavaliers teammates the past few weeks. Fedor’s report/response to a mailbag question stressed how Windler’s knee is “feeling good,” and that if he can remain healthy, he could be “in line for a prominent role” this coming season, too.

If he can stay healthy and looks to be establishing a rhythm early on, I’d think that Windler could be a very meaningful bench factor at the 2 and 3 for Cleveland, also with Fedor’s report in mind.

And a few recent comments from Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff following a Wednesday training camp session were encouraging. The first came via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and the “Locked On Cavs” podcast, with Dammarell first relaying how, per Bickerstaff, Windler “has been moving really well in practice.”

The other from Bickerstaff, via Kelsey Russo of The Athletic, touched on how Windler again was moving really well, and he then mentioned how of the Cavs players, Bickerstaff believes that, in practices, Windler appears to seemingly always run “the most.”

These comments from Bickerstaff demonstrate how Windler can provide juice off the bench for the Cavs with his activity off-ball.

For the Cavaliers, we again need to see Windler be available this season, to get that out there. It’s a broken record at this juncture; Dylan needs to be available game-to-game, so he can establish a rhythm as a shooter and warrant meaningful minutes off the bench.

We did see flashes from him last season when he was a regular contributor, and as KJG’s Amadou Sow previously hit on, Windler emphasized how he felt more comfortable when he was being targeted off movement, in the shooting sense.

Taking that sort of thing into account, and with what Windler displayed in that realm in his collegiate career at Belmont, where he shot 40.6 percent over four seasons from three, these comments from Bickerstaff were all the more telling.

To me, if Windler can get it going some in preseason and in the early going, it’s apparent that he could give Cleveland a bench lift with the energy he could provide as a movement shooter that is continually working to get open.

That, and with the team reportedly prioritizing finding more threes, Windler, who could be a key off-screen shooting target for the likes of Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio, among others, should benefit.

Granted, to drive it home, for that to be the case, Windler has to hold up physically throughout the upcoming season, which will be back to 82 games (fingers crossed).

In addition to these comments showing how Windler could provide movement shooting pop for the Cavs, it also highlights how Windler could make a difference game-to-game as a quality cutting target as well. I thought his timing in that aspect of the game, and his finishing in those situations at that were positives from his de facto rookie campaign, too, for what it’s worth.

Hopefully we see Windler get himself going some in preseason action for the Cavaliers, and carry that forward into the regular season for Cleveland, which begins on Oct. 20 at the Memphis Grizzlies.