Isaiah Canaan must have seen what happened to Mike James and decided he had to reinvent his game if he wanted to stick on the team. Remember, Canaan has never, ever, at any point in his career, EVER been a passer. He has strictly been a three-point shooter trapped in a fat, short body. Like a shorter and fatter Marcus Thornton (RIP). But Mike James was also a short three-point chucker who only passed when he had to, and he got waived after playing himself into a real (non-two-way) contract.
So now Canaan is trying his best to be a distributor in addition to his known shooting ability. Obviously he’s not the long-term answer for any team at any position, either point guard or shooting guard (career 37% shooter from the field, what team wants that?), but he’s just trying to make sure he can stick in the league for at least the rest of the season and maybe parlay that into another NBA paycheck or at least a training camp deal.