Cavaliers swingman Dylan Windler has been experiencing knee pain recently and will undergo further evaluation in the next few days, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Windler, a late 2019 first-round pick, didn’t play at all last season due to injury. He’s seen action in 31 games this season off the bench, averaging 5.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 1.1 APG in 16.5 MPG.
Windler suffered a hand fracture in the season opener, which kept him out of action for nearly a month. The Cavs picked up their $2,239,200 third year option on the 24-year-old in December.
We have more on the Central Division:
- Utah’s backcourt of Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell provides a blueprint of how the Cavaliers’ backcourt Darius Garland and Collin Sexton might eventually work, Fedor writes. Thus far, it’s been a work in progress. In 821 minutes with Sexton and Garland, the Cavs have an offensive rating of 106.4 and a defensive rating of 115.5, for an overall net rating of -9.1, Fedor notes. However, it’s tough to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the backcourt pairing due to a lack of continuity in the frontcourt, mainly due to injuries, Fedor adds.
- Jeff Teague will have a much different role with the Bucks than he did in Atlanta with Mike Budenholzer as his head coach, Eric Nehm of The Athletic notes. Milwaukee simply needs him to be a competent backup point guard for 10-15 minutes in postseason games. Teague has agreed to join the Bucks after being waived by the Magic.
- Lauri Markkanen has been relegated to the second unit with the addition of Nikola Vucevic but the Bulls’ big man doesn’t want to be considered a backup, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes. Markkanen will be a restricted free agent this summer, if Chicago extends a qualifying offer in excess of $9MM. “I know I’m a starter in this league but I’m going to play my role,” he said.
Lauri is Niko 2.0. Let him walk.
Lauri is worth 20th pick in early March
If he wants $80 million contract in summer, he is worth 40th pick this year draft
Bagley was worth 3rd pick in 2018 now he is worth 30th pick
Jimmy Butler was picked 30 in the draft way back when, so you sain’ Lauri is worth more than Butler?
But Jimmy was traded for Lauri+Lavine.
You sayin Lavine has negative value now?
Your rating of draft picks:
1) 20th pick
2) 30th pick
3) 40th pick
I can bridge the gap on this one. Markannen is worth more than the 40th pick (someone sees untapped upside there and has the scheme and personnel to hide his defense). While Jimmy is also nowhere near representative of the typical 30th pick (most of whom never see a second contract).
So much promise, but can’t cut it
Lauri can’t stay healthy and can’t guard nba big men, goes too cold for too long shooting, I’m not sure he is a starter except maybe on a team of superstars where he’s still just a role player, I think the bulls could use the money he wants much better at starting point guard
Vucevic and the Bulls have looked pretty bad so far. Early days, but they looked better prior to the trade
Losing Lavinia with an ankle has hurt the Bulls. The Magic Looked good last night. Weird!!
As I have said multiple times, Lauri just doesn’t fit this team, he is a luxury that they cannot afford – unless some of the other players magically become better defenders and can compensate for his lack of defensive prowess. But that still would lead to a deficit of ball-handling. He just seems to want to hang around the 3 point line like a statue, instead of cutting and moving without the ball, which is what has led to success for the Bulls this year.
@Lionel Muggeridge Give it a little time, it took a while for the motion offense to click with the prior roster, it will take a few more weeks before this one can start anticipating each others’ moves. Either way, Lauri has been clogging the machine, I think they should just let him walk since no one seemed to want him in trade. I totally agree that they could spend $20 mil better on a point guard. Lavine will need some cash in 2 years also.