NBA Power Rankings: Ranking All 30 Starting Point Guards

28.  Isaiah Canaan — Philadelphia 76ers

Passer Rating:  88.58 (28th)

Per-36 minutes:  16.6 points, 3.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 2.4 turnovers. 38.6% field goals, 37% 3-pointers, 81.7% free throws.

True Shooting Percentage:  53.4% (12th)

Player Efficiency Rating:  12.4 (25th)

Real Plus-Minus:  -2.84 (24th)

Wins Above Replacement:  -0.29 (24th)

This should be D’Angelo Russell here to expedite Sam Hinkie’s enterprise, but Los Angeles stepped on those hopes and dreams. It was one of the motivations behind trading their 2013 lottery pick, Michael Carter-Williams, who the organization didn’t believe in as a successful point guard for the future. They weren’t wrong, as you’ll find out later.

When Carter-Williams was dealt to Milwaukee, the 76ers were deluged with second-rate choices at point guard. Tony Wroten wants to play the position, although he’s played 60% of his career minutes as a two-guard. Before becoming a free agent, Ish Smith was there to help Nerlens Noel thrive more than any point guard as ever aided him. Smith was actually Philly’s best option as a play-maker, setting up Noel for 66 field goal attempts in the 25 games he played. Noel connected on nearly 70% of those shots, because the two seemed to click well with each other offensively.

Canaan, on the other hand, doesn’t possess the same unselfish, natural inventiveness that Smith does. Everything is still up in the air, but Brett Brown is probably leaning towards Canaan to start the season than his other three options — Wroten, Kendall Marshall, and Pierre Jackson. As noticeable, the 76ers not only have a weird backcourt situation, but it’s impossible for Brown to feel comfortable with any of them.

This is almost like taking your toughest final exam in college, glancing down at a multiple choice question and whispering …. “I’m f**ked.” No matter which technique you use — process of elimination, the strongest gut feeling, or cheating off a neighbor — nothing feels certain. There isn’t a “none of the above” for Brown, and he’s too bright to drop the class.

If it’s Canaan, Philadelphia will have to deal with his aggravation in the passing department.

As expected once traded, his usage rate was a bit higher with the 76ers (small sample size) than it was with Houston. But, his assist percentage also climbed a full 10% as a member of the East’s underlings. He received more chances with Philadelphia, and tried to make more plays.

Nonetheless, his passer rating of 88.58 turned out to be the worst among all qualified starters. Much of that is because he only generated 5.31 points from assists per 100 possessions, and only accounted for 5.6% of Philadelphia’s total passes per game — two very crucial categories in the passer rating formula.

There’s a sound belief that Marshall can take over the starting duties once he becomes fully healthy and comfortable, but that could be 15-25 games into the season. Until then, it should be up to Canaan to make sure Jahlil Okafor gets the touches he needs in the right spots he needs them. Also, to help Noel properly adjust his game into the power forward role.

With his trigger-happy arm from the perimeter — hoisting over 10 3-pointers per 36 minutes and hitting a terrific percentage of them for a 2nd-round point guard — Canaan could fall victim into being the wrong type of point guard for this team.

Who are we kidding … 90% of their roster is the wrong type of anything for an NBA product.

Next: Tier 8: Young, Full of Growing Pains