The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Isaiah CANaan Be A Solid CANtributor Next Season

By Bret Stuter

Apr 2, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Isaiah Canaan (0) reacts behind Indiana Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey (2) after his three point shot during the second quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 2, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Isaiah Canaan (0) reacts behind Indiana Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey (2) after his three point shot during the second quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 28, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown reacts to guard Isaiah Canaan (0) during first quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 28, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown reacts to guard Isaiah Canaan (0) during first quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

There’s some bad

On an NBA team looking to fit players into specific roles, there just isn’t a traditional role for Isaiah Canaan.  Sam Hinkie couldn’t find him one.  Brett Brown, despite a three week tryout at the point guard position to begin the season, couldn’t find him one either, at least not initially.

The book on Canaan was written on day one if he becomes the point guard.  But the Sixers found out that they could slip Canaan onto the court and off the radar of their opposition by slotting him in the shooting guard role.  That placed his offense at the perimeter.  His three point accuracy was 36.3% from three point range, but his overall field goal percentage dropped to 36.0%.  Some contribution to that was the limited number of quality looks Canaan had in the most recent season.

But he was tasked with defending opposing players who routinely had a  tremendous size advantage on him.  That led to some poor defensive results.  In fact, his 538 defensive rating for the 2015-2016 season was -2.0.

For comparative purposes, the other options at shooting guard for the Philadelphia 76ers were Nik Stauskas with a -1.6 defensive rating, and Hollis Thompson with a -1.4 defensive rating.  So the Sixers were not exactly stymieing their opponents at the wing position.  Defense was delivered by Jerami Grant at +1.4 and Nerlens Noel at +4.0.

Even T.J. McConnell at -1.3, Kendall Marshall at – 1.9, and Ish Smith at -0.7 were stronger defensively.  So we have a guy who can’t distribute, and doesn’t defend particularly well, why are we even talking about him?

Next: Ugly Moment Versus Pelicans