In recent games, with the Cleveland Cavaliers having been without so many regular rotational pieces, it’s been a time for Dylan Windler to make his mark. Windler was starting to do that more I thought last week/the weekend leading into it, and the pure shooting abilities always make him such an intriguing bench piece.
He started the season sidelined for a few games because of a hip injury, which was a bit of a concern initially with his injury issues in his first two seasons with the Cavaliers, but he has gotten more of a shot in the past nine or so games following a DNP.
In his minutes, Windler has shown some of his deep shooting capabilities, which is likely the key seller for him in rotational opportunities at the 2/3.
In these past nine games, he’s done alright, generally speaking; he’s shot 47.4 percent from three on 2.1 attempts per outing, with 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 15.3 minutes per outing. His off-ball movement, rebounding and team defense generally help the team when he’s in there, too, and I don’t gloss over that.
Although when watching Windler’s play, it is frustrating at times when the dude passes up some opportunities at catch-and-shoot looks, given his reputation as a knockdown-type shooter. When he’s ready to fire and is playing confidently as a movement and/or ball-swing target, then I’ll take what comes from there, given how he can aid in spacing some, and help the club on the other end in rotational minutes.
An underlying theme for Windler will always be him needing to fire without hesitation; at times, he can be passive as a shooter.
Simply put, Windler has had issues staying healthy with the Cavaliers, and last season, he wasn’t able to consistently establish a shooting rhythm for elongated stretches of games. The aforementioned hesitation has popped up, though.
The passivity of late is no bueno
There definitely were glimpses of just how impactful he could be for Cleveland with his shooting range when he is comfortable, but the injury bug again struck, and Windler ended up only appearing in 31 games last season. On the year, he ended out converting on 33.8 percent of his three-point attempts, which was somewhat disappointing, with the potential he has.
This season, there has been some early success for Dylan too when the opportunities have been there, and he’s had three games of these past nine with multiple threes made. That said, part of the reason why it’s difficult to have a firm stance on Windler is the hesitation/passivity from him at times in games as a shooter with his capabilities.
Given how they were on the second leg of a back-to-back, and were without six regular rotation players, Thursday night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors was nothing to hang their heads about it. A 36-8 fourth quarter by Golden State was hard to stomach at first, sure, but that is the league’s best team, and Stephen Curry is, well, Stephen Curry. Windler being scoreless in 18 minutes and 0-of-1 from three was concerning, though.
In that game, and on other occasions, it’s still tough to watch when Windler, who is a more than capable shooter, look to be passive when pretty open looks come his way.
I do get that injuries played some of a role in that regard last season at times for him, however, from here, the underlying theme will be for him to be firing without hesitation when his chances arise.
For Dylan to have only 11 and 12 minutes in the two outings prior to Thursday’s game, with the injuries/absences the Cavs had this week, that was alarming, but when watching him at times this season, his passivity at times has not helped his case.
With the news involving Collin Sexton being out for the rest of the season as of Friday, as a side note, it’s all the more paramount that perimeter guys like Windler, who is capable of providing some of a shooting spark, help pick up some of the slack by committee, too.
Windler tries to help his teammates, and defends, but the Cavs need him to shoot first
Now, Dylan has defended competently, for the most part, in rotational minutes, and gives great effort on the glass, and he has nice feel for finding the extra pass.
Nonetheless, he’s at times too unselfish in looking for those, or passes up shot opportunities off-the-catch, and appears to overthink things too much. He has to always be thinking shoot first when he’s in there, because he’s more than capable of knocking looks down.
If he’s “timid,” as he was in that Warriors game, as our own Robbie DiPaola stressed, it’s not a guarantee to foresee him carving out a consistent role night in and night out when Cleveland gets more guys back in the fold, even sans Sexton.
Him unnecessarily trying to make things happen off the bounce at times and being cut off or losing it, when the shots have seemingly been there and he’s passed them up, has been frustrating, for example. Hopefully the Cavs coaching staff is emphasizing for Windler to pull it.
Granted, it’s tough for me to be ever really be out on Windler, per se, if he can remain mostly healthy, that is, because when the opportunities do come, he has shown he does the little things to help Cleveland.
But objectively speaking, for Windler to help himself from this point forward, he needs to frankly, look to get himself going more as a shooter game-to-game. He should, honestly, with his shooting abilities, range and feel for converting off movement, not be held to under three points in three straight games.
We’ll see how this situation plays out.