Isaiah Canaan moved out of 76ers' point guard rotation
CLEVELAND - It appears the point guard position for the 76ers will no long be manned by Isaiah Canaan, who began the season as the starter at that spot.
The steady play of T.J. McConnell has thrust him into the starting lineup and the signing of Phil Pressey means that he will back up McConnell. Canaan, the best shooter of the three, will get whatever minutes are available to him at the shooting guard spot, with perhaps a few scattered minutes at the point.
"He will still have some point guard in him from time to time but right now I don't see it immediately like that," said coach Brett Brown at the team's morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena where they'll meet the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night. "We'll probably go with Phillip and T.J. carrying that 48-minute load. Maybe Isaiah will come in if we really need to score.
"When we all sort step back and say 'What does he do,' he shoots. And so that counts for something when you have a post player like Jahlil (Okafor). So now how do I find that quality? We especially miss it without (Robert) Covington. I see (Canaan) coming in and playing and I see it more now as a two. What has to happen for that to more easily happen is you have to feel comfortable that the matchups aren't killing you. If they are rolling out 6-7 and 6-9 two and three men, well then maybe that isn't such a good idea."
The Sixers are quite small at the point guard spot as both McConnell and Pressey are about six-feet, while Canaan may be the shortest of the three.
Meanwhile, 6-5 Tony Wroten and 6-4 Kendall Marshall are working to return from the torn ACLs they both suffered in January. But Brown won't allow himself to go there just yet.
"I don't know. It's a ways a way," he said. "It's not even on my mind." Brown had said before that December may be the time for one or both to return.
1. How the Cavs defend against Jahlil Okafor. Last game they let Timofey Mozgov pretty much go at it alone against the rookie, and that didn't work out so well as Okafor bulled his way to 24 points. If Cleveland does decide to double him this time, open players will have to knock down shots, which hasn't been happening a lot lately.
2. The play of Nik Stauskas. The shooting guards seems to be pretty much 100 percent healthy and back in shape after a stress reaction in his right leg cost him almost all of training camp and the preseason. His outside shooting can obviously go a long way into helping Okafor down low, but he is also pretty good at taking the ball to the basket.
3. The shift in LeBron James. It seems that there is usually a point in a game were James kind of puts it in another gear and takes over the game, whether it be with his scoring, passing or rebounding. He may not need that extra gear against the overmatched Sixers, but watch for it if he does.