The Cleveland Cavaliers still have two preseason games left to play, and the 2021-22 regular season has not nearly tipped off yet. Cleveland will begin that on Oct. 20 at the Memphis Grizzlies, for reference.
Prior to that, the Cavaliers will be hosting the Chicago Bulls, who blew them out in the preseason opener on Tuesday in Chicago, and then the Cavs will wrap up preseason action at the Indiana Pacers on next Friday.
The point I’m getting at though is it’s not even the regular season yet, and one shouldn’t be reading too much into preseason play.
Now, the starting backcourt has had their struggles, for example, but there’s been some positives, even with turnovers. In that sense, the three-point approach for Darius Garland and Collin Sexton has been a plus, and Evan Mobley’s play has jumped out.
In any case, even with it just having been a preseason contest, it was nice to see Dylan Windler take advantage of getting some real minutes on Friday against Indiana, and I’d hope that we see him be a rotational factor.
It was a Cavs preseason game, sure, but Windler’s performance against Indy on Friday was promising.
Cavs fans are well aware of how Windler has been limited in his first two seasons, largely because of injuries. His rookie campaign was wiped out due to complications involving a stress reaction in his lower left leg, and in his de facto first year, he was only able to appear in 31 games.
Windler’s season was cut short in relation to left knee surgery in late April to address “ongoing tendinopathy concerns” involving that injury, which was another rough bout of luck for the Cleveland wing.
Fortunately, Windler was able to get himself right over the offseason, and was reportedly participating in voluntary scrimmages leading into training camp, which began last week, and he seems to be in the right place mentally and physically.
Now, it was a bit odd that Windler was limited to only 12 minutes combined through Cleveland’s first two preseason games, with most notably the second game him not appearing in at Atlanta. He’s a player that has had injury problems, yes, but as a movement shooter and player that could be a key bench perimeter threat, he needed to get more reps, and on the plus side, he was able to get those in Cleveland’s game against Indy.
Windler had 12 points, all via threes, and was four-of-six from the field overall in 22 minutes of action, and the Cavs were clearly targeting him. It was just one preseason game, and the injury concerns with him will be there, objectively, from here.
However, even in a 109-100 loss to Indiana, who didn’t have Caris LeVert in action, it was evident that Windler gave Cleveland a spark in his minutes. And his shooting range, feel for getting to his spots at times, and his movement abilities were on display; he looked confident, and was moving really well.
"This is what I came here to do." 🔥@Dylan_Windler23 caught fire from deep in last night's preseason effort pic.twitter.com/gN3g1kXuXf
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) October 9, 2021
In general, it was kind of performance that should lead many to be optimistic about his outlook as a meaningful bench guy for stretches at the 2 and 3 for the Cavaliers.
Although to reiterate, it was preseason, and the likes of Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens will factor into things, and even with struggles, as he was scoreless on Friday, Windler is not nearly the specimen, nor defender of Isaac Okoro. Okoro could very well take the next step as a driving presence this season, too, to that point, and as an aside, it seems we’ll definitely see Lauri Markkanen at times as a jumbo 3, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor detailed.
Also circling back a bit, just given the injuries Windler has had, him potentially being a starting 3 option doesn’t seem that realistic.
But this preseason game against Indiana, as we’ve alluded to, did demonstrate how if he can remain available and the opportunities do come in real stretches off the bench, Windler could potentially be an instant offense-type guy. That’s with his shooting range and movement feel/off-ball abilities; he hit 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts in his collegiate career at Belmont.
We’ll have to see how Windler responds in the next preseason game, though, and from there, in the early going of the regular season. He does need to prove himself in Year 3, in fairness, but this sort of performance from Friday was promising.