By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus guard Isaiah Canaan is making a compelling case for being the best 3-point shooter in the EuroLeague right now.
There’s a series of arguments aplenty for that but it mostly comes down to combining high volume with efficiency. Nine games into the 2023-24 regular season, Canaan is tied with Fenerbahce Beko guard Scottie Wilbekin for the most 3-pointers made so far with 2.8 per game for a total number of 25. He lets it fly with a superb 52.1 percent accuracy, being just the third player who’s draining more than 2.0 triples per game on 50.0 percent plus shooting along with Fener wing Tarik Biberovic (2.3 – 3.7 for 63.7 percent, 14-22) and Olympiacos forward Alec Peters (2.1 – 4.2 for 50.0 percent, 19-38).
Perhaps more importantly, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill “wait in the corner” threes, solely from a spot position in 5 vs. 5. Canaan is an unconscious, fast-executing, trey-burying automaton while creating many of his own shots, taking several of them off the dribble, with the defender’s arms hanging over him, in transition and with the clock ticking down.
“It’s my team. They support me,” Canaan told Eurohoops some minutes after his latest swishing exploit of 4-7 threes and 15 points overall in Olympiacos‘ 88 – 83 home win over Crvena Zvezda Thursday (16/11). “The role that I have with this team is a role where I got to attack and I like to do that. I like to take on. It’s a big responsibility. I’m just more relaxed. More free.”
Canaan has always been a highly capable shooter but it took him some time to display his talents after his arrival at Olympiacos in 2022. At the exact same moment of the season a year ago, he was on 8-24 3-pointers in comparison to his current 25 – 48 run, struggling to adjust to the sometimes demanding – but quite successful – system of the Greek squad that requires every player to serve a specific function. For the American guard, the job was quite different than the one he dealt with at Unics Kazan during his first two years in European basketball.
The more the season progressed, the more Canaan gradually became more attuned to this new environment, learning to excel in a different role, and also emerging as an underrated factor on defense with some lockdown action in important games. His best scoring performance then arrived at the EuroLeague championship match where he dropped a season-high 21 points on 5-6 threes in the last-second loss to Real Madrid.
Now, he’s picking it up exactly where he left it with an upgraded offensive capacity.
“The coach [Giorgos Bartzokas] kind of lets me go at it sometimes,” Canaan added. “It’s also good to see them [shots] going through. I see a couple go through, it means a lot. The next 3-4 will go in too.”
“But really, it’s mostly about having a clear mind. I just have a clear mind. No pressure at all. Just going out there and showing everybody what I can do and what we can do.”
While Canaan doesn’t let think of any pressure, he’ll admit that it was imperative for Olympiacos to close the latest double-game EuroLeague week with a victory and make it two out of two including the road victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv. A fine bounce-back set of games after suffering back-to-back defeats in the very last seconds vs. Fenerbahce and Baskonia, the latter due to a heartbreaking buzzer-beater by Codi Miller-McIntyre.
“With everything going on with the team, with the injuries and things like that, getting two wins in the double-game week is huge,” Canaan said. “We’re trying to keep the next-man-up mentality. When one person falls we try to pick each other up collectively as a team. We just have to keep our heads high and just keep trying to be the best we can be with what we got.”
Olympiacos has never managed to play at full strength in the season so far. When new forward Luke Sikma came back vs. Maccabi after being sidelined since Round 3, guard Nigel Williams-Goss suffered a mid-game injury in the match that will keep him out for a month. Star center Nikola Milutinov missed the last two games, having been essentially unable to play also against Baskonia, Swingman Shaq McKissic hasn’t been active since the EuroLeague opener at Panathinaikos Athens but is at least expected to join team practices next week.
It was up to Canaan, Thomas Walkup, Kostas Papanikolaou, Alec Peters and Moustapha Fall to take care of business, sharing the load on both ends of the court and finish the job vs Zvezda.
“We just try to give everything that I can to the team to help them win,” Canaan said. “Whether it’s playing defense, making 3-point shots, or diving to the floor. Guarding everyone It’s just whatever it takes. At least in my mind, I’m giving whatever it takes, whatever the team needs. Whenever they need me to step up, I just step up and be the best I can.”
In light of the ongoing injury problems that are leaving Olympiacos constantly shorthanded, there’s been a lot of discussion and speculation on whether the team should make an addition, maybe even two. The frontline lineup seemed already to be missing an extra big man since there are just two players on the EuroLeague rotation and now Fall has come to average almost 35.0 minutes over the last three games with Milutinov out. Meanwhile, Walkup and we’re talking about a player who puts tremendous, energy-straining effort on both ends of the floor.
Bartzokas has repeatedly mentioned that the club won’t make a transfer just for the sake of making a transfer. He and the rest of the coaching staff will greenlit a move only if they are certain that there is a player available who can be assimilated into the system and become a meaningful piece to what they are trying to create.
“I love my team that I have right now,” Canaan said when asked if he believes Olympiacos needs an extra player. “If the coach feels like we need extra bodies, then that’s the decision he makes. We just show up at work every day and trying to give the best we can and make sure we take care of ourselves outside of basketball.”