2021-22 leads to more questions than answers about Cavs’ Dylan Windler

I’ll be the first to admit, heading into this recently-concluded season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, I had some level of optimism that Dylan Windler could turn a corner. I truly did.

His formal rookie season was wiped out because of a stress reaction in his lower left leg, and in what was his de facto Year 1, his season was cut short again due to injury. He ended up having surgery left knee surgery in relation to patella tendinopathy concerns, and early on in that season, he missed a stretch of games with a fourth metacarpal fracture in his left hand.

His rookie year was limited to 31 games, which, whether or not the season was condensed to 72 games, was far from ideal. There were some things to build on from then, though, as Windler’s shooting capabilities flashed in a few very promising stretches, and his defensive activity, rebounding and off-ball feel led me to believe 2021-22 could be big for him.

Unfortunately, that’s not what played out. He began missing a few games at the outset of the season because of a hip injury, which didn’t help.

He did have some solid outings in November with more opportunity, but when Lauri Markkanen came back from a COVID-19 health and safety protocols absence, Windler’s chances again became pretty spotty in December, realistically, and Cedi Osman for a good portion of the season was very effective. That didn’t help Windler’s case, with others involved, too, such as Isaac Okoro.

In the second half of the season/feasibly the turn of the calendar, Lamar Stevens became more involved also, and as the season wore on, it was apparent that Windler wasn’t going to have the season one would’ve maybe hoped for as a rotational shooter.

He eventually went to play a stretch of games with the Cavaliers G League Affiliate, the Cleveland (formerly Canton) Charge, and he did do pretty well there at least. In 11 games, he had 15.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest with the Charge, and shot 38.8 percent from three on 6.1 attempts per game.

There were some opportunities to come for Windler with the Cavaliers following that, and he did have rotational minutes game-to-game again in March, where he did do a nice job on defense and again as a rebounder. Nonetheless, at that time it was odd for Windler to be getting chances, and I wasn’t a fan of Osman being yanked at times, despite him then having been off as a shooter in that stretch.

Anyway, this season, despite others being involved, was not great for Windler, I didn’t think, and it still left more questions than answers.

The Cavs can’t be too confident that the shooting potential from Windler will translate for them, after a step back this season.

Windler, as we noted, had some very good flashes for Cleveland last season as a catch-and-shoot threat, and he does have range, if the confidence is there, to fire away. It wasn’t on display nearly enough for elongated stretches, though, and his shooting was trending downward prior to his injury last season, and as a result, he finished out 2020-21 with a 33.8 percent three-point shooting hit rate.

I wasn’t overly concerned about that from him, given the health issues, as he still appeared in only 31 games, and there was reason for optimism for this season. Reports during training camp regarding him heading into 2021-22 were encouraging as well, which fed into that optimistic outlook.

However, as we previously alluded to, this season was not one where the shooting came to fruition for Windler, who only appeared in 9.2 minutes per contest this season with Cleveland, and had averages of 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 50 appearances. He shot just 30.0 percent from three this season. In 2020-21, he had 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per contest, by comparison.

I guess to me, while I appreciate Windler’s effort level, particularly defensively and on the glass, and he’s a heady cutter that is athletic, this season, when the chances did come, he looked hesitant still as a shooter. That was something that was an issue at times in 2020-21, and confidence is a lingering question to me about him still. And with others involved, if Windler’s not providing catch-and-shoot play or at least shoots those for it to command respect, why should get meaningful minutes next season?

That’s not even factoring in that the Cavs could seemingly draft a wing in June in the mid-to-late lottery, or at one of their two second-round selections.

Isaac Okoro, Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens have their warts, and Dean Wade won’t be a volume shooter when he’s in, and this isn’t including potentially Collin Sexton and/or Caris LeVert, if both are back, as far as others.

But even with that being the case, and feasibly two of those players maybe not being back next season, one way or the other, or perhaps three, I’d still be fairly surprised if Windler is around through next season. There is maybe still potential there with his shooting capabilities, I just don’t know if we’ll ever see that translate with the Cavaliers.

Confidence, who he plays best with, and whether or not he can provide better results than other guys competing against him for rotational minutes leads me to think there are simply more questions than answers about Windler with the Cavs after this season.

The 6-foot-6 wing will be heading into his fourth season in 2022-23, and is set to turn 26 before next season. And at least right now, I wouldn’t be shocked if he were potentially part of a trade package before then; maybe another team takes a flyer on him as part of a deal.