Put your opinion on whether they should have traded Michael Carter-Williams or not to the side for a moment, as well as K.J. McDaniels. One of the immediate thoughts that crossed everyone’s minds was what the team would look like—specifically the backcourt.
The next question likely was, how would that be to watch?
Some casual fans may have seen that “Rookie of the Year” accolade next to Michael Carter-Williams and figured he was a budding star or exciting player to watch. In reality, he was just a solid player, granted with a nice physical build and length, but he was a flawed player. The fact is, he was an abysmal shooter, at a position where there are incredible shooters.
Shooting tends to be exciting to fans. It’s one of the reasons the three-point shootout, featuring the “Splash Bros”, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, has become an event most fans look forward to, compared to say the dunk contest.
So would could prevent the Sixers from being more “unwatchable” than shipping off a player many misunderstood to be a future part of “the core”?
Enter Isaiah Canaan into the lineup. Acquired from Houston in the McDaniels deal, Canaan is probably an unknown to many, unless you were up on Murray State basketball or the Rockets in November. He showed off his shooting ability yesterday, hitting 4-of-9 threes. Will he get triple doubles like Carter-Williams? Probably not, but they did get themselves a player with the potential of being fun to watch.
Imagine the Sixers’ floor now; Canaan, Hollis Thompson and Robert Covington. That’s a lot of shooters, and is a far improvement from the projected lineup without those guys (if MCW was healthy) of Carter-Williams, McDaniels and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
The Sixers struggled often to score early in the season, so much so that Papa Johns had to change a promotion for if the Sixers scored 100 points to now just 90. They are dead last in the NBA in scoring, so they can only go up now, especially without Carter-Williams and his league-worst adjusted shooting percentage.
For comparison’s sake, Canaan hit his four threes Sunday. That’s as many as Cart-Williams has hit over the last 31 days.
Different, yes. But worse? Not so fast.
Game Notes:
- The Sixers aren’t the only team that made moves during the deadline. The Heat upgraded at point guard, acquiring guard Goran Dragic from the Suns, a move that led to Phoenix making their pick expendable to the Sixers, and their interest in acquiring Brandon Knight. So, it is quite possible that Carter-Williams may have remained a Sixer until at least the offseason had the Heat not made the Gragic move.
- New Sixer Ish Smith has joined the team and will be available to play tonight.
- One of the hottest players and rising names in the NBA over the past month has been Heat center Hassan Whiteside. A journeyman, he has averaged 10.1 points per game and 8.9 rebounds. Whiteside is also good for more than two blocks a game, and would be behind only Anthony Davis had he qualified with more playing time.
- Sunday, with the addition of Canaan, allowed the Sixers to convert their second-most made threes all season long.
- Philadelphia has taken three of the last five contests, including both the season opener and finale last season.
Projected Lineups:
Philadelphia:
PG- Isaiah Canaan
SG- Jason Richardson
SF- Robert Covington
PF- Nerlens Noel
C- Henry Sims
Miami:
PG- Goran Dragic
SG- Dwayne Wade
SF- Luol Deng
PF- Udonis Haslem
C- Hassan Whiteside
Prediction: The Heat respond to a 14-point drubbing of the Pelicans over the weekend, and Dragic settles down more with his new team to net the Heat a comfortable win, 104-92.
