Tonight, Sixers fans will watch Isaiah Canaan make his debut with the team, as they travel to Orlando for an Eastern Conference matchup versus the Magic. Canaan was traded to the Sixers during Thursday’s trade deadline madness, when Sixers GM Sam Hinkie traded rookie K.J. McDaniel’s to the Houston Rockets for point guard Isaiah Canaan along with another second round pick. After trading last season’s rookie of the year, Michael Carter-Williams, just minutes before, Hinkie realized that he needed to grab a point guard because he had zero on the roster, at the moment. When Hinkie spoke about the deal afterwards, he claimed that Canaan was a player they scouted and that he was high on their draft boards during the 2013 draft. The 23 year-old will start tonight at point guard for the Sixers.
As for the magic, they aren’t exactly making a playoff push either and they find themselves towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference, just ahead of the Sixers. Recently, they’ve been a hot team following wins against the Knicks and the Pelicans. Even though the Sixers plan is to tank and lose as many games as possible, it would help their cause tonight if they were to get a win down in Orlando. If they can get a win tonight it will create more of an opportunity for the Lakers to jump the Magic and move out of the bottom five teams. Meaning that the Sixers would then receive the Lakers one through five protected pick in this year’s draft, rather than have to wait until next year to receive the pick.
Game Notes:
- The Magic have won three of their last five games after firing their coach, Jacque Vaughn, on February 5th.
- New Sixers point guard, Isaiah Canaan, averaged 6.2 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 14.8 minutes a night with the Rockets this year.
- Canaan is connecting on 38.1 percent of his three-point attempts this season. Much better then Carter-Williams’ statistics.
- Nerlens Noel is coming off a monster game where he had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 9 blocks, and four steals.
- Noel will match up against former Sixers big man, Nikola Vucevic, for the first time.
Projected Starters:
Sixers
PG- Isaiah Canaan
SG- JaKarr Sampson
SF- Robert Covington
PF- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
C- Nerlens Noel
Magic
PG- Elfrid Payton
SG- Evan Fournier
SF- Victor Oladipo
PF- Channing Frye
C- Nikola Vucevic
Injuries: Tobias Harris (knee) has missed three straight games and is day to day for the Magic. Joel Embiid (foot) and Tony Wroten (knee) are out indefinitely.
Prediction: I believe Isaiah Canaan leads the Sixers to their 13th win of the season tonight in his debut with the team. The new look Sixers will beat the Magic, 101-96.
