Cleveland Cavaliers: Dylan Windler will have instant impact

The Cleveland Cavaliers may have struck gold in the 2019 NBA Draft by selecting Dylan Windler.

Building through the draft is the Cleveland Cavaliers main game plan for rebuilding this franchise. After four spectacular seasons in which they reached the NBA Finals four times and won a championship, the Cavaliers are back to square one.

Of all the young players the Cavaliers now have, Dylan Windler may be the only one to have an instant impact.

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The 2019 NBA Draft was an eventful one for Cleveland. Ending up with a total of three picks in the first round, the Cavaliers walked away with Windler, Kevin Porter Jr. and Darius Garland.

Though Windler may appear to have the lowest ceiling of these three, he does have the highest starting point. At least, for the role in which he will play with Cleveland.

Since the 2011-12 NBA season, the league average for 3-point shooting has steadily been rising. Beginning at 18.4 and peaking at an all-time high 32.0 attempts per game last season, it’s clear which way the league is trending.

Three-point shooting is the new wave. As for the Cavaliers, they are drowning under the current. Cleveland finished below the league average in both 3-pointers made and attempted last year. In total, the team ranked as a bottom 10 team for 3-point shooting.

Their best shooter was Kevin Love, who connected on 2.4 shots a game from deep. However, Love played in just 22 games last season. If we are talking sheer volume, Jordan Clarkson led the team with 144 total 3-pointers on 32.4 percent shooting.

If you can’t tell, the Cavaliers had some problems with shooting last season. Except for a few efficient moments from Collin Sexton, the team truly had no pure marksman on the roster. This, of course, created problems with spacing and generating easy offense.

It may be a big reason as to why Cleveland finished 29th in points per game.

This is where Windler’s expertise will come into play. Last season for Belmont, Windler averaged 21.3 points and averaged 3.0 makes from beyond the arch a game. He shot a strong 42.9 percent and showed the ability to shoot both off of screens and off of the dribble.

On top of this, Windler proved to be a surprisingly solid rebounder. Standing at 6’8″, Windler has great awareness and positions himself accordingly to haul in the board. Despite not being overly athletic, he averaged a team-high 10.8 rebounds per game.

In case you were wondering, rebounding is also a weak point for the Cavaliers. Grabbing just 42.2 rebounds a game, Cleveland finished 26th in this category.

Windler is going to step in and have an instant impact for the Cavaliers by being a pure shooter with above-average rebounding ability. These are two of the Cavaliers biggest weaknesses, and they just so happen to be Windler’s strengths.

If everything goes right for Windler and the Cavaliers, he could have a similar impact to that of Joe Ingles for the Utah Jazz. With identical builds and talents, Windler could one day be as productive as Ingles, which would be a huge win for the Cavs.

When looking at the rookies that Cleveland has drafted this season, Windler may fit better with the team than anyone else. Darius Garland is by far the most talented but plays a position that is not of need.

Meanwhile, Kevin Porter Jr. is solid but will share the backup guard position with Jordan Clarkson. This makes Windler the only one to have a backup position all to himself.

He could even start at the power forward position, moving Kevin Love to center and allowing the Cavaliers to play small-ball.

Above all else, Dylan has more experience than any other rookie the Cavaliers drafted. Playing four seasons for Belmont, Windler is 22 years old and ready to transition his game to the NBA level. He is already a talented shooter and won’t be asked to do too much else for the Cavs this season.

As soon as he hits the hardwood for Cleveland, Windler will be set to make an impact. Hopefully, he blossoms into a valuable role player or starter one day.