Channing Frye had a rough first season in a Magic uniform. It was, in his words, “embarrassing” and he is hoping to correct things his second year.
Channing Frye became the punching bag for Magic fans during last year’s disheartening 25-win season. He was the newcomer with the (relatively) big contract and he failed to perform.
Frye shot a good 3-point percentage, but struggled to integrate defensively and became more of a liability than a benefit. That would be something hard to do considering his potential impact spreading the floor from the 3-point line.
Channing Frye is a real guy. He does not pull punches when he talks to the media and speaks frankly. He too was disappointed with his first season in a Magic uniform, as he told me at Orlando Magic Daily:
“This summer is probably the hardest summer I have worked. It was the longest summer I have been healthy. I feel great. You will see a better version of me. Last year was, for lack of a better term, a little embarrassing just on all fronts. I have a lot to prove. I’m out here to put the work in and do it.”
Those are some cliches about being in the best shape and being willing to put in the work that you will typically see at a NBA media day. What is different is Frye’s frank assessment of his season.
Again, he shot a good percentage, but a knee injury in training camp made it harder for him to integrate into the team and harder for him to regain mobility. That hurt him in all phases of the game. The offense then turned Frye into a spot up shooter when he is most effective moving off the ball and popping off pick and rolls.
The Magic plan to use Frye more like that this season with an offense that moves the ball quickly and uses player movement and motion to free up space.
Whether Frye can bounce back or not remains to be seen.
Varejao won’t stay in Portland. He’ll probably be bought out or waived and I’m guessing the got a second rounder out of it. AV doesn’t fit in to what the blazers are doing with young players on the same career path as Lillard. He’s older now and has a $10M contract. If he stays with Portland, I don’t know what Olshey is doing.