Dylan Windler
Dylan Windler of the Belmont Bruins had a terrific senior season in head coach Rick Byrd’s final year as an NCAA head man. Windler even made it to the Big Dance after losing to Ja Morant and the Murray State Racers in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Windler is a three-point marksman extraordinaire, though he is not just a one-trick pony. Windler is comfortable producing triples off the dribble or off the catch, and it must be noted that Belmont’s offense ran through Windler for much of the season. Over the span of his four-year career, Windler raised his usage rate from 12.9 percent to 25.7 percent in his senior year.
Beyond that, he produced a sky-high 30.4 player efficiency rating this year for Belmont, which was good enough for 11th in the entire country. A very good defensive rebounder (career-high 27.3 percent in his senior year) at 6-foot-8, Windler only weighs in at 200 pounds, but that allows him to be rather quick and shifty as a ballhandler instead of a more muscle-bound, plodding wing.
The modern NBA is all about shooting. As a multi-faceted wing with good size and immense basketball smarts, it seems that Dylan Windler might have one of the highest floors in this entire draft class – especially in the latter portions of the first round.
If Windler is still available early in the second round when the Atlanta Hawks select, they should seriously consider a knockdown shooter like Windler.