NBA Finals Player Preview: Channing Frye
By Ian Levy
Shooting is the key to the Cleveland Cavaliers chances in the NBA Finals, and no one has been shooting better than Channing Frye.
Channing Frye really just does one thing on the basketball court — make jumpshots. What makes him so special is that he does it with a center’s body. Only one player in NBA history, 6-11 or taller, has made more three-pointers than Frye (hint: he’s German and his name rhymes with Nirk Dowitzki). Being able to play center and admirably do the things that entails — defend the post, grab some rebounds, protect the rim — while spacing the floor like a wing unlocks all sorts of possibilities.
Frye played in just 26 games for Cleveland after coming over from the Orlando Magic, and it is in the playoffs that he has really hit his stride. So far in the playoffs, Frye has made 26 of 45 three-pointers (57.8 percent in case you don’t have a slide rule handy). The Cavs are scoring 115.4 points per 100 possessions when he’s been on the floor and the second unit lineup featuring Frye, LeBron James, Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson and Matthew Dellavedova has outscored opponents by 46.6 points per 100 possessions in the 70 minutes they’ve played together in the playoffs.
For real.
Frye’s shooting has brought the Cavaliers to another level. It allows them to maintain system integrity with the second unit, keeping the floor spaced around high pick-and-rolls and dribble hand-offs at the elbows. It’s one of the reasons the Cavaliers have been nearly as dominant in the paint as they have been from behind the arc. It can make the simplest sets virtually unstoppable, adding one more impossible choice for the defense onto a cascading sequence of impossible choices.
Frye will have his work cut out for him in the playoffs. Defending Mo Speights or Andrew Bogut is a reasonable enough task for him, but he’ll likely just as often be matched up against Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes or Andre Iguodala when the Warriors go small. Defending in space and not getting lost on switches will push his defensive limits.
The Cavaliers need him on the floor as much as possible. The Warriors won’t make it easy.
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