Point guard Isaiah Canaan wasn’t suppose to an impact player for the Phoenix Suns, but he has immediately shown the franchise his worth.
This is Isaiah Canaan’s fifth season in the NBA. He’s already been on four different teams, been traded, been waived multiple times, and had untimely injuries that set his career off track just as he was possibly getting it heated up. Canaan is hoping this latest team, the Phoenix Suns, is one that he can stick with for a while.
Canaan was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2013. During his time with the Rockets, he bounced back and forth between the big club and their then D-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, on multiple assignments. He finally found rotation minutes until suffering a serious ankle sprain and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers once healthy. He worked hard to find time in their rotation before tearing the labrum in his shoulder. After that contract was up, he signed with the Chicago Bulls, but he was soon waived.
Phoenix Suns
This season has been a roller coaster as well. He signed with the Thunder, played in a few preseason games and then was waived. Canaan re-signed with the Rockets, but only played one game before being waived again. In the G-League he was traded to the Northern Arizona Suns. While there he caught the eye of the General Manager Ryan McDonough and was signed and given an injury exception roster spot soon after Devin Booker went down. When the team gets Booker back, they will have to shed a non two-way contract player.
Canaan, and now many Suns fans, are hoping that that player won’t be him.
Canaan is an even six foot, which is short even for a point guard. However, he has a thicker build at 200 pounds and doesn’t let his height deter him. He’s only 26-years-old so he has plenty of years left to provide some quality run in the NBA, but he needs to catch on somewhere first. With Phoenix having Devin Booker and Troy Daniels set at the shooting guard position, if he wants to stay he will have to out play Tyler Ulis and/or Mike James at point guard.
He’s off to a good start.
In his first two games as a Sun, he has had a huge effect. He has taken most of Mike James’ minutes, which wasn’t too difficult considering that James had been in a 3-point shooting slump for weeks before Canaan’s arrival. Tyler Ulis is averaging only 39.7% from the field, down from last season, and 27.5% from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Canaan has shown he came to play. He’s posted a shooting line of 60-60-92 and is averaging 16 points, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals off the bench.
When Canaan plays with the Booker-less Suns, the club is 2-0.
Yes, that’s a very small sample size, but let’s zoom out. In his career so far he’s posted a 37-35-83 shooting line with an average of 8.5 points, 1.6 assists and 0.6 steals. Zoom in a little and in 60 games as a starter he’s posted a 38-36-80 shooting line with an average of 12.4 points, 2.4 assists and 0.7 steals. His overall field goal percentage is well under where teams would like, but 36% 3-point shooting is pretty good.
Arguably, his best season in his career was with the 76ers in 2015-16. He found a role as a shooter with similar accuracy on treys, during which he spaced the floor and scored 11 points per game.
As a starter, if he continues to play anywhere close to the level he is at now, then 27 to 33 minutes per game is a good expectation of future minutes. If you take the games in his career where he played in that range, he’s put up a 42-39-88 shooting line, nailed 2.7 triples per game and averaged 13.8 points, 2.4 assists and 0.9 steals in 56 games.
The one consistent seen is his long distance accuracy and scoring. This is much needed, especially considering Booker is at 38 percent on trey attempts this season and the rest of the starters are quite a drop from there. Expecting Canaan to average 12 to 14 points per game is a very safe bet – and that’s nothing to scoff at.
The question is more with his ball distribution and play making skills.
Let’s start with this note: Head Coach Jay Triano was impressed when Canaan was brought in for a free agent work out during the summer. Triano said he did well at controlling the tempo and getting others involved. Then why are his career assist numbers so low?
He’s played with the likes of Jeremy Lin, Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Michael Carter-Williams, Ish Smith, Rajon Rondo, Dwayane Wade and T.J. McConnell. Here’s to betting he wasn’t asked to pass the ball much but rather just come in and shoot.
Even with all those names ahead of him as distributors, Isaiah has dished out at least 4 dimes in 12% of his career games played. That is a low percentage but it shows he’s capable. If you look at his college days at Murray State, his assist averages rose each season as did his points and steals. In 23 games in the G League he averaged 8.1 assists. Given the opportunity, he can definitely distribute the basketball –very well.
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With only Tyler Ulis and Mike James as the Suns’ other point guards, there is no reason that Isaiah Canaan shouldn’t find a home in Phoenix. At least for this season. His 3-point shooting, scoring, and passing could all be upgrades over his competition. One might even go as far as to state he deserves a chance to start.
In his words, “All I can do is go out there and play…everything will take care of itself…I’m still trying to find a home. Hopefully, it’s here.”
Keep balling, Isaiah. Make Phoenix your home.