Q&A With Ben From Blazer's Edge: Channing Frye
by Wil Cantrell on Jul 11, 2009 7:23 PM MDT
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We got a hold of Ben over at Blazer's Edge for a little Q&A regarding the Suns new acquisition Channing Frye to see what we were getting as our newest Sun. Thanks to both Ben and Phoenix Stan for assisting:
Q: How do you foresee Frye performing in an uptempo system like the Suns?
A: When healthy he is agile and quick for a player of his size. He's a hard worker and shouldn't have a problem keeping up. He has pretty good hands and that's always nice for a running big man. But given the other offensive options that Steve Nash has I don't anticipate Frye being option A, B, or C very often. But maybe D.
Q: We obviously know a little bit about Channing Frye-he's got a great attitude, he's a hustler, and has pretty good range for a big man. But tell us more about him defensively. Can he hang with the big boys of the NBA at the 5?
A: No. Not really. Frye is very long but he's not a shot blocker at all and he often struggles to keep his man from establishing deep post position. He does better on the perimeter guarding face-the-basket Power Forwards as, when healthy, he's pretty solid moving laterally and challenging shots. He works hard on the glass but doesn't have a real knack or nose for rebounding (at least he didn't show it in Portland... although one could argue he never had an opportunity to do so) and gets muscled around by more physical players. If he's playing heavy minutes at five plan to lose the rebounding differential on many nights.
Q: Was LaMarcus Aldridge's play the main reason for Frye not getting the minutes in Portland, or were there other deficiencies in his game the kept him on the bench?
A: There was a lot of overlap between Aldridge's skillset and Frye's skillset so that was the main reason. Almost everything Frye does well, Aldridge does better; everything Frye does poorly, Aldridge does better. LaMarcus was quite durable this year and Nate tried to use him at times when Brandon was not in the game to get him more looks, so that squeezed Frye out of the rotation. Also Oden and Przbyilla both demanded minutes and that really marginalized Frye further.
Frye never proved to be much of a defensive or rebounding force. On a Nate McMillan team, particularly last year's team with its methodical pace, that was just a death sentence for his playing time.
Q: Amare Stoudemire has stated that Shaq often took up too much of his space for him to be effective last season. Assuming Amare is still with the Suns this season, how do you forsee Frye and he co-existing?
A: Frye prefers an outside game, relying on 15-20 foot face-up jumpers and succeeding in pick and pop situations. I think you'll see Amar'e's rebounding numbers on both ends go up without Shaq in the mix. His offensive output will probably need to increase as well, as Frye doesn't really provide the junk points around the basket that Shaq does. It will probably be about 2.5 weeks into training camp before Amar'e will wish he had Shaq back; although maybe STAT will prefer his stats over additional frontcourt depth, I'm not sure.
Q: Frye has a reputation throughout the league for being soft or passive. Is that fair?
A: Yes.
Q: Frye also has a reputation for being a bit...quirky. What's that all about?
A: Read through his blog's archive: ChanningFrye.com/blog. Plenty of material in there. He's a very intelligent, well-spoken, funny person. The life of the party; the light in the media room. Always ready with a quip. Dances to the beat of his own drummer. Not caught up in the life of being a professional basketball player. Here's a great piece on Frye: http://wweek.com/editorial/3507/12013/
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Nice, an honest guy
I am fine with Frye being on the team, a great pickup where we don’t have great depth, but I am not comfortable with anybody on this team being center. If I had my druthers however, with no more additions and subtractions, and I wont even get started on those, I think Frye has to be starting PF, where he would be decent, with Amar’e stepping it up at the 5. I would presume this is an indicator of Gentry deciding on a 7sol type offense, which I would not mind. However, this may work for the regular season, probably reasonably well in fact but I doubt we have a chance in a playoff series, to small/weak/unproven/limited.
I hope Fropez can surprise me though. I would be estatic with anything resembling 8-10 points, similar rebounds, and good D. Channel your inner Brook, Robin.
by egp the great on Jul 11, 2009 11:22 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
That’d be nice to see Amare’s rebounds go up, but I am not sold on Shaq being the reason they were down. And I don’t think Amare will be missing Shaq any time soon, unless Frye goes down hurt. Remember the ego. I think both Amare and Nash sighed relief when Shaq was traded, becasue his greatness overshadowed theirs. Now Amare has a golden opportunity to be the man, like never before, and if he ever wants to get paid, he’ll take advantage of it.
Overall, I am nuetral on this current lineup. I’d like to see them out on the floor. I feel like they can be average, and I also feel like they can surprise a lot of teams. But who knows what will happen? We may not have to win any more games this year than last to make the playoffs, or we could still win ten more games and miss out. We’ll see. Can’t wait until we start seeing how all of our guys work out together. Especially glad we got Frye before and not during the season.
Any word on Sean Livingston?
Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.
by SunDolphin on Jul 12, 2009 10:53 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
I think both Amare and Nash sighed relief when Shaq was traded, becasue his greatness overshadowed theirs.
I doubt seriously that Nash and Amare sighed relief for that reason. I think the real reason is the reason we all heard about-Shaq clogged up the middle. There was really no room for Amare to operate when Shaq was posting up. Further, if Nash and Amare were to try and work the pick n roll, there was always Shaq’s man right there waiting for Amare. Of course that often led to some easy buckets for Shaq since a quick pass from Amare would find him with an open hoop.
It’s also clear to me that Nash cares nothing about fame. He’s got it, but in nearly every interview you see he is humble to a fault. His MVP years embarrassed him.
I suppose indirectly Shaq’s fame could have bothered Amare, and it certainly bothered him under Porter’s system which entailed getting the ball into the big man, thus limiting Amare’s touches since he wasn’t the first option. I do believe Amare lost out on a lot of rebounds with Shaq on the court. He was usually closer to the ball at the 5 and his size and aggressiveness would not only box out his own man, but anyone else in the vicinity.
by Wil Cantrell on Jul 12, 2009 11:30 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
He doesn’t care enough about fame to play defense and win a championship, that’s for sure. If you’ve got a player like Shaq, you swallow up the pride of your style and play to his.
Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.
by SunDolphin on Jul 12, 2009 1:58 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs
For half a season the Suns did play the Shaq/Porter style. Needless to say it didn’t work. I don’t blame Stoudamire for that, I blame management, for bringing in the wrong coach for the roster of players they had. It may have worked with a roster of up and coming kids, but that wasn’t what the Suns had.
Further, if you are talking about a Shaq in his prime, then maybe you have a good argument for everyone playing off of him. But we were talking about a 36-37 year old Shaq who has lucky to stay healthy for an entire season.
by Wil Cantrell on Jul 12, 2009 2:29 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs
Old Shaq
Is not chopped liver
Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.
by SunDolphin on Jul 12, 2009 3:50 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs
Something that I think is important about Frye is that he is better with increased playing time
He is decidedly not a spark plug off the bench you throw in for 5 minutes to bang with the opposing backup. Then he can look horrible. About his worst game was the first game against the Celtics last season, when in a few minutes in the second quarter he dug himself a deep hole in the eyes of his coach.
http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/12/5/683186/game-21-recap-blazers-not (see comments)
11:14 Channing Frye bad pass (Leon Powe steals)
11:11 Leon Powe makes layup
11:11 Channing Frye shooting foul (Leon Powe draws the foul)
11:00 Channing Frye misses 22-foot jumper
8:56 Glen Davis blocks Channing Frye’s layup
6:00 Channing Frye illegal defense foul (2nd personal foul)
6:00 LaMarcus Aldridge enters the game for Channing Frye
He needs some shots and actions to get comfortable. It the Suns can regularly find him 15-20 minutes, I would assume Channing can do nice things for you. He is coordinated, he is highly skilled, he is working hard in training, he is a great locker room guy. At the reported price, he is a very nice pickup, and I assume he elected to go back to Phoenix because that is the other city where he feels comfortable (he hated NY) and wants to redeem himself there.
If you want to trade our spare parts for Devin Harris, I have three quarters I would like to trade for your dollar
by Norsktroll on Jul 12, 2009 11:48 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
He was my favorite person ever to play on the Blazers
not my favorite player, but favorite person. I would happily accept 3-4 more losses on the season (and I can’t sleep after losses) if that was the price to pay for keeping Channing on the the team. But he wanted to contribute more, which is understandable.
When he had minutes, like the end of the 07-08 season when Aldridge was injured, he played quite well.
He was sometimes frustrating as a player but a great member of the community. I miss him already
"its tough to play with one eye, unless you're a pirate." Delonte West
"una canasta a Pau en la cara" Rudy
by Honka Playboy on Jul 12, 2009 2:26 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
Preseason should be interesting
I don’t think Channing being a soft guy with a perimeter game is all that bad. If you recall a few seasons ago, we stared KT, Marion, Boris, Raja, and Nash. They put up great numbers and did far better than we had expected without Amare.
The question is: How does Nash play with Frye. If Channing can get a good sense of spacing, run the floor well, and finish, then I could see him starting with Amare. It leaves Amare more space on the block (a problem he has now mentioned having with Shaq and Boring; let’s be real, it’s all excuses. If you can’t work both sides of the block, that’s your problem, not every other players), he’s playing against slower centers (can he outrun the likes of Bynum, Yao, Oden, etc. . .), and generally a perimeter shot helps the SSOL offense because it spreads the floor.
I like Lopez too, if he can play up to his potential, but even if he ups his skills, I don’t think he’s a SSOL guy. He can’t hit past 8 feet, he’s not a fast guy, doesn’t really have good hands or acts quick on the post. Even if he brings in 15 and 10, if he can’t fit with the offense, it won’t necessarily pan out because his numbers will hurt the rest of the teams numbers.
Bottom line: preseason is gonna be the test. Run them both at starter, platoon the minutes between Frye, Lopez, and Amare, and start looking at the best way to get the most out of Frye and Lopez with Nash.
by Max Simbron on Jul 12, 2009 9:43 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
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