Cavs: Being sidelined again is less than ideal for Dylan Windler’s start

Well, well, well. In an all-too-common theme, Cleveland Cavaliers rotational wing Dylan Windler has been sidelined once again because of injury.

That’s hampered him in his Cavs career thus far, as for one, he missed his formal rookie campaign due to complications involving a stress reaction in his lower left leg.

In relation to last season, Windler appeared in only 31 games, as he first dealt with a fourth metacarpal fracture on his left hand, and his season was cut short due to surgery in late April. That was to address “ongoing patella tendinopathy concerns” at the time; it was a tough go of it for Windler in his de factor rookie year, too.

Now, in what’s becoming all too familiar in regards to Windler’s time with the Cavaliers, he is sidelined to begin the season, as he was inactive at the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in the 2021-22 opener. He could reportedly be set to be active this weekend, perhaps on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, but we’ll see.

The current ailment for Windler is a hip injury, which he reportedly sustained diving for loose balls in practice, as of last week. It’s not serious, on a positive note. Although it’s just not great for his start to the season, a season in which he needs to prove he can be a meaningful contributor in the rotation, feasibly at the 2 and 3.

Cavs: Being sidelined again is less than ideal for Windler’s start to the season.

It’s clear as day at this juncture that Windler hasn’t been able to be available enough to establish a consistent rhythm in his time with Cleveland. As we emphasized, the dude has only been active in 31 games, which, regardless of the COVID-19-affected seasons, has been unfortunate.

Now, if he can get healthy and stay available for the Cavaliers, from a rotational standpoint, he can definitely be an impact player off the bench.

Windler had an encouraging preseason, at least I thought, and in his four-year collegiate career at Belmont, his range and deep shooting abilities, off movement even more so, were on display. He hit 40.6 percent of his career three-point attempts in college with the Bruins.

There were flashes of his shooting potential last season with the Cavs, but again, he wasn’t able to get into a rhythm game-to-game to have a notable rotational impact. In his 31 appearances, he hit a fairly underwhelming 33.8 percent from three, and had 5.2 points in 16.5 minutes per outing.

The health concerns, to that point, will seemingly always be there with Windler, however, if he can get past this latest ailment with his hip, perhaps he’ll firmly establish himself as a factor off the bench, in spurts/stretches on the wing.

Granted, Windler beginning this season banged up is less than ideal, as Isaac Okoro will be involved, and Lauri Markkanen actually started at the 3 from the jump. Both will likely play multiple positions throughout games, either way.

And while I personally am not holding my breath when it comes to Cedi Osman, who has had his share of struggles in recent seasons and leaves so much to be desired defensively, Windler’s latest injury doesn’t help on that front, either. The likes of Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens, seemingly to some degree, could reportedly be involved, in relation to 3 minutes, also; Wade missed the Memphis game to an ankle injury, though.

Needless to say, I do think Windler could make a difference, given his deep range, off-ball prowess, and cutting/finishing, and I buy his team defense/rebounding, but being sidelined again due to injury is far from a good way to start this season.

I do hope he can get healthy soon, and he seemingly could play this weekend. Regardless, it’s getting tougher and tougher to expect much from him as a regular contributor, given the injury woes he’s dealt with; that sucks, and I wanted him to be involved early on this season, prior to the hip injury. We’ll have to see if his team option for next season gets picked up here with the deadline approaching on Nov. 1, too.