Isaiah Canaan Becomes Free Agent After 76ers Don't Extend Qualifying Offer
Guard Isaiah Canaan was afforded an opportunity to flourish with the Philadelphia 76ers during the most arduous stages of the team's rebuild. But now that the franchise is expected to gradually shift its focus toward postseason contention, the microwave scorer is slated to hit the open market.
According to Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes, the Sixers declined to extend Canaan a qualifying offer worth $1.2 million, which would have made him a restricted free agent. As a result, he'll be free to sign with any team.
Calkins Media's Tom Moore confirmed the report Thursday.
Canaan arrived in Philadelphia via a 2015 trade-deadline deal with the Houston Rockets, and he immediately emerged as a go-to, albeit inefficient, volume scorer.
In 22 appearances (12 starts) during his initial trial run with the Sixers, Canaan averaged 12.6 points per game on 37.7 percent shooting from the field.
Canaan proceeded to make Philadelphia's roster for the start of the 2015-16 season, and the results were similar. Over the course of 77 games (39 starts), he averaged a career-high 11.0 points per contest while shooting 36.0 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from three-point range.
"Just to continue to get better," Canaan said about his mindset during the 2015-16 campaign, per Brian Seltzer of the team's official website. "I'm still young in my career. I still got a lot of things to learn. Each game is a learning curve for me; each practice is a learning curve. Just try to get better each game."
The problems for the 25-year-old are twofold.
First, he's a shooting guard in a point guard's body. The 6'0" speedster has averaged just 1.8 assists per game over the course of his career, and his assist percentage has hovered at a lowly 13.6 percent through three seasons.
Second, Canaan has yet to prove he's a steady defender.
According to NBA.com's lineup data, the Sixers were outscored by 2.3 points per 100 possessions with Canaan on the floor last season. Considering that Canaan's height also limits him to guarding opposing point guards, he's not the sort of versatile and modern backcourt bench body teams crave.
While Canaan evidently has the raw scoring chops necessary to stick in the Association, he fills a narrow niche as an undersized floor general who tends to be at his best in catch-and-shoot situations.
Canaan should be worth a look for teams in need of extra scoring pop off the pine, but it's hard to envision his commanding much more than a minimum-salaried deal based on his limitations.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise. Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
