Player of the Week: Isaiah Canaan brings wins to the Phoenix Suns

Point guard Isaiah Canaan has been the driving force on the bench that has led the Phoenix Suns to three wins in their past four games.

Since being signed by the Phoenix Suns because of the Devin Booker injury, Isaiah Canaan has brought multiple wins to the club. The energy, leadership and floor spacing Canaan has brought to the Suns off the bench is undeniable. The Suns winning three out of the past four contest coinciding with the arrival of Canaan is no coincidence. That is why new comer Isaiah Canaan gets the player of the week award.

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In Canaan’s first game with the Suns, he helped lead the club in a win against a Minnesota Timberwolves’ team that is in playoff contention. In his debut, Canaan had 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists while shooting 3-5 from the field and 1-2 from the 3-point line. He also made all eight of his free throw attempts. Canaan’s impact is beyond his own stats, Alex Len had 19 rebounds and Dragan Bender had 17 points coming off the bench with Canaan.

Canaan followed up that performance with another strong outing in a win against the Dallas Mavericks. He came off the bench with 17 points, four rebounds, six assists and three steals. His solid shooting continued with making 60.0 percent of his field goal attempts, 66.7 percent of his 3-point attempts and 75.0 percent of his foul shots.

His worst performance of the week coincided with the team’s one loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Canaan ended the contest with 10 points, two rebounds, three assists and one steal. Canaan’s shooting was the part of his game that suffered the most going 2-12 from the floor and 1-6 from behind the arc. His only redeeming stat was that he shot perfectly from the charity stripe making all five shots.

To end the third seven day span during the month of December, Canaan had a better outing in a win back in Phoenix against the Memphis Grizzlies. He shot 3-7 on field goal attempts and 2-3 from shots behind the 3-point line. He also had a solid stat line of 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals. This may not be a great game, but it was a solid enough game to get the Suns a victory.

Honorable Mention

Alex Len almost got player of the week, the impact that he had shouldn’t be diminished by the fact he only got honorable mention. Len averaged 9.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.5 blocks and 0.8 steals. He had three games where he had at least 13 rebounds and one with 19 rebounds. Honestly, if Len had a higher shot block average he probably would have won the award.

Next: Len should be starting for the Phoenix Suns

Isaiah Canaan’s impact on the Phoenix Suns play is more than evident by the team’s win total since his arrival. It is yet to be seen if he can continue his 13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals average for the long term and once Booker returns to the lineup. If he can, then the club will be in a good place for the rest of the season.