Over the next couple of weeks we will evaluate the Sixers' roster following the 18-64 season. Up now is point guard Isaiah Canaan.
Position: Point guard
Status: Canaan is under contract for 2015-16 for $947,276. Eighty percent is guaranteed. If he is not waived by July 15, 2015, it is fully guaranteed.
Signature game of 2014-15
When the Sixers played the Thunder in Oklahoma City in early March, Canaan scored a career-high 31 points and made a career-high eight three-pointers. Canaan joined Dana Barros and Willie Burton as the only Sixers who have made at least eight threes in a game. Barros set the record in 1995 with nine.
Canaan in 2014-15
Canaan came to the Sixers in a trade with Houston on Feb. 19. The Sixers sent rookie K.J. McDaniels to the Rockets and received Canaan and a 2015 second-round pick.
When Canaan arrived, he immediately became the Sixers' starting point guard because Michael Carter-Williams had been traded to Milwaukee and Tony Wroten was out for the season following knee surgery.
He started 12 games, but then he became Ish Smith's backup. Canaan played 22 total games for the Sixers before suffering a season-ending ankle sprain against the Wizards on April 1.
After the trade, Canaan averaged 12.6 points, shot 37.7 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three-point range.
Prospectus
Canaan is 6-foot. His ability to shoot is indisputable, but can he run a team, make those around him better and can he defend?
My instincts say he can play in the league because he can make a shot, but heading into his third season with a limited NBA résumé, Canaan is not the right fit for this Sixers roster.
The Sixers must upgrade at the point guard position, and current backup Wroten is under contract. Smith is a free agent, but his chemistry with Nerlens Noel was great to watch. Smith has to be in the running for the team's third point guard, and his value is greater than Canaan's if studying their contributions after joining the Sixers.
Canaan was the 34th overall pick in 2013. McDaniels was the No. 32 pick last spring. Letting Canaan go would not be a total loss; the Sixers have the No. 37 overall pick this spring because of that trade (lesser of Minnesota's and Denver's picks).
McDaniels may have cost too much money, in the team's estimation, as a restricted free agent this summer, thus leading to the trade. But Canaan, when given the opportunity to be a starting point guard, could not do enough to keep the job.
If moving the program forward is the priority, as Brett Brown has repeatedly said it is, Canaan is not the right choice as a backup point guard.
On Isaiah Canaan...
"What you see is what you get but can he grow to have a point guard intellect and keep the game in front of him defensively? You say what is his identifiable NBA skill? What does he do well?
"He can shoot. When you have Joel Embiid, you better get some shooters around that post player. Maybe he ends up one of them. Time will tell with the draft and other things that Sam [Hinkie] will figure out. But to date, he has come in, been a good teammate, and he has shown that he can shoot."
- Brett Brown, April 7, 2015
"He is an interesting prospect. He is anything but a throw-in. He is someone that we chased in the draft with similar zeal to how we have chased other players.
"He had played with Robert Covington last year. He's played fine in his limited stints in the NBA. He's had limited stints for a reason. He played for a very good team. He wouldn't be the first player with the Sixers to come from a good team and surprise if he stepped into our lineup."
- Sam Hinkie, Feb. 20, 2015