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Former Racer Canaan Visits Kids at Prohm Camp

Former Racer Canaan Visits Kids at Prohm Camp
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By MSU Athletics
Jul. 30, 2014 | MURRAY, KY
By MSU Athletics Jul. 30, 2014 | 09:51 PM | MURRAY, KY
Former Murray State Basketball All-America Isaiah Canaan was back on campus Wednesday making a visit to see the children at the Steve Prohm Basketball Camp at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

Canaan just finished his rookie season in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and recently led the franchise D-league team to the title game in Las Vegas.  After starting 0-3, Canaan and his team won three straight. He had scoring games of 28 points and 24 points and ended the Vegas session with a team-high 17 points per game and 3.3 assists per game.

In the regular season, Canaan was one of the top players in the D-League at Rio Grande where he scored 22 points per game and had eight assists per game in 18 games with the Vipers. Canaan was called to the big club in February and saw limited action in 22 games.

The Rockets have made several off-season moves including trading Omer Asik and Omri Casspi to New Orleans and signing Trevor Ariza from Washington. The Rockets also traded Jeremy Lin to the Lakers and Chandler Parsons signed a free agent deal with Dallas. Canaan has created a lot of buzz with his recent play and his prospects of increased playing time are rising.

"It shows me that a door is open," Canaan said. "It's a better opportunity for me to be able to come in and know that I can compete for quality minutes. The team is doing everything they can to show me that opportunity. I'm going to continue to do the things that I'm asked to do and go out there and show them that I'm ready."

Wednesday at the CFSB Center, Canaan flashed that familiar smile and charisma he was known for when he wore the Navy & Gold from 2009-13. Moments after walking on the court, the kids at the Prohm Camp swarmed and Canaan spent several minutes just visiting with them. Once things calmed down, Canaan took questions from the kids and had queries ranging from 'when will you get married?' to "what is it like to play with Dwight Howard and James Harden?'

Afterwards, Canaan sat down with GoRacers.com and talked about a wide range of topics including him seeing so many kids at the camp wearing his Rockets jersey.

"I always dreamed about that moment when a little kid would be wearing my jersey," Canaan said. "Now I have that opportunity. It just shows how far I've come personally and the hard work that I've put into this game to get to this point in my life. It puts a smile on my face to see a kid that wants to wear my jersey."

Canaan said he will also wear a different number next season with the Rockets. He will switch to jersey No. 0 and newcomer Trevor Ariza will wear No. 1.

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