[video=youtube;czD3Ogtu4ZI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czD3Ogtu4ZI&feature=channel_page[/video] Have a great career and come back to Portland when you're done!
I agree with his sentiment: We never gave him a real shot because we were committed to the players we drafted. I wish he were still a Blazer.
Good luck to Channing. He'll always have my respect for embracing our city, and being an overall good dude. I hope the crowd shows him the respect when he comes back.
Seconded. I think he was a cheaper and better option at backup PF than anyone the Blazers could have brought in.
He seriously belongs in the WNBA. He is the softest player I have ever seen on a NBA court. He says the word Man about 50 times every interview he does lol
I like Channing, but I don't think we could've stood another season with him. Even with the little we've seen of Cunningham and Pendergraph, they might be good enough to give us what we want that Channing couldn't.
Channing talks as if he's a lights out Dirk Nowitzki shooting bigman. He is not that efficient of a shooter, yes he can space the floor if the defense is sagging off him but he got into a lot of trouble because he ignores all other opportunities to contribute. Nash can make crappy players look pretty good, and boost their percentages so I suppose we'll see...
Channing Frye is not a good NBA player. I appreciate his positive spirit and don't blame the Suns for taking a chance on him, but he simply is unable or unwilling to do many things at the NBA level that would make him a difference-maker. He is a slower, taller shooting guard who can't beat people off of the dribble. Ed O.
It depends on what year it is. He had a great PER his rookie season before the injury - a full point higher than Aldridge's rookie PER and even 0.1 higher than Roy's ROY winning rookie PER. I assume you've seen this: [video=youtube;voGZv5ZEVs0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voGZv5ZEVs0[/video] I know highlight videos are intended to make a player look good, but considering all of those highlights came within a 65-game span of his rookie season (unless I miscounted, the highlights came shown in the video came from 9 regular season games and the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge game), it's pretty impressive. His 1st season and Portland he had a decent PER (14.8) for a back-up and a pretty good TRB% (15.5 - 2nd highest on the team behind Joel). So, he has the ability to be a decent NBA player, It's his performance in his 2nd and 4th seasons that leave me scratching my head. The 2nd season I get - he was coming back from a major injury. This past season, he had bone spurs removed right before the season started and came back rather quickly. Perhaps he came back too quick and it impacted his play - but that was a pretty minor surgery (as these things go). So, who knows? If the pattern continues, he's due to have a good 2009-10 season. I guess we'll see. I wish him the best. BNM
I don't think he's "due" for a good year, based on a rather vague pattern (strong rookie season, putrid year, average year, putrid year). He might have a decent season next year in a system that doesn't ask him to defend and gets him a lot of fast break points, but I wouldn't expect him to be a "good" player. I would remove his rookie season from the analysis completely since it was pre-injury and focus on his past three seasons as representative of his abilities after the injury. In that context, his "big year" of being almost average (below average when you factor in defense) is an anomaly.
Channing is a pretty good player that Nate never really gave him a chance to bring out the best in. That's too bad as he proved he can play well in the NBA. His attitude was excellent. It's a shame it didn't work out for him here, but he'll have as long an NBA career as he wants.
Thing with Channing is, it's not a simple every other year thing for him. He's a decent NBA player. Biggest issue for him is consistent playing time. He's a rhythm player, and it takes him time to get going. If he starts alongside Amare in PHX, he will have a good season. He is not what we needed, an energy guy off the bench. His numbers when he played over 20 minutes in a game for us were pretty good.
He was injured all last year and didn't deserve to play. He will get some of his mobility back and actually be an NBA player this year. Good luck to him.
He just isn't that good in limited minutes. He's one of those "flow" guys who needs to get 30 minutes to be effective. Problem is that there are always better players you can give 30 minutes to, at least on our team. If I played fantasy basketball, I'd definitely pick him up for cheap. I think he'll surprise everybody this coming year with a PER around 13-15. He'll still be a pretty poor defender and a losing mismatch most nights, though.
