That's right, Channing Frye. Most NBA fans (at least in New York) have probably forgotten he's existed over these past few seasons but he's carved out an interesting career for himself, somehow becoming a three point specialist in Phoenix. And now, in consecutive games he's hit DAGGER game-winners, yesterday in Indiana and tonight ruining Deron William's first home game for Bottle's favorite team.
Originally drafted by the Knicks in the 05 season, Frye had a promising rookie year. He then regressed a little his second year and was eventually traded to Portland for Zack Randolph before winding up in Phoenix. What happened from there has surprised the hell out of me. It's true that a lot of guys look like great 3 point shooters playing with Steve Nash (Q and Jason Richardson, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa) but Channing has gone from a decent post player who rarely ever took a shot further than 18 feet to becoming almost exclusively a 3 point bomber and now a late game hero. Check out his numbers then and now:
2005-06: 9 three point attempts for the season
2008-09: 33 three point attempts for the season
2009-10: 703 THREE POINT ATTEMPTS for the season
That's nuts. I've seen players reinvent themselves because of injury, age or laziness (see Walker, Antoine for all of the above) or their stats become inflated due to a particular offensive system, but this guy totally changed his game in his 5th season in the league. Now he seems to be taking on the role of clutch shooter too. Good for him for finding his niche.
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