Arizona Basketball: A Time to Reflect for Channing Frye
By Kevin Jiang
After overcoming unthinkable obstacles in a ten year NBA career, former Arizona Wildcat Channing Frye took some time to reflect on becoming an NBA Finals Champion.
After soaking in the success of the Cleveland Cavalier‘s NBA Finals run earlier this summer, the former Wildcat took the time to reflect in The Players’ Tribune on his new moniker —Champion. “Every time I step on the court now, I’m appreciative. It wasn’t always this way,” Frye wrote.
Channing Frye was never supposed to make it this far, writing ‘Who the hell would’ve thought Channing Frye would be an NBA champion?’
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The St. Mary’s High School (Phoenix, AZ) product was recruited to play basketball for Arizona in 2001; however, as a raw and physical project, it seemed likely that Frye would have to redshirt his first year on campus.
Frye managed to change his luck as a Cat by providing significant contributions to Arizona Basketball from his time as a freshman to the time he became a senior leader on the 2005 Elite Eight team. He also got help from his fellow Wildcats, “I was shooting extra shots at night with Jason Terry, Luke Walton, and RJ. Seeing guys like Jet and Richard work out that summer, it showed me how much they sacrificed to get so good.”
Frye entered the 2005 NBA Draft as a balanced big man who registered double-doubles in eight of his twelve NCAA tournament appearances, helping him become the eighth overall pick by the New York Knicks. As a big man and lottery pick, Frye’s time with the Knicks would prove to be short and disappointing as New York traded him to Portland in 2007.
Following another pair of disappointing seasons in the NBA, Channing entered free agency and decided to come home to Arizona to play for the Phoenix Suns. His two-year, $3.8 million deal with Phoenix would ultimately alter the course of his NBA career.
As a big man who had only attempted 70 career 3-pointers over the course of his first four seasons in the NBA, Frye enjoyed one of the most successful, unconventional NBA seasons in recent memory.
Frye cited a specific memory when head coach Alvin Gentry urged him to shoot three-pointers. The positive encouragement ended up sparking a prolific 2010-11 season behind the arc, where he shot 172-392 (43.9%) from deep and was invited to the All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout as the competition’s first center since 1997.
The positive encouragement ended up sparking a prolific 2010-11 season behind the arc, where he shot 172-392 (43.9%) from deep and was invited to the All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout as the competition’s first center since 1997.
Frye’s run of perimeter success in the periphery of NBA attention with Phoenix was interrupted when he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart in 2012. Suggested by team medical staff that he should never play sports again, Frye went through an emotional rollercoaster which saw him start at square one. “Everyone wants to walk away from basketball on their own terms. When someone tells you you’re done, you just feel helpless,” he wrote, “The doctors explained that any workout could literally kill me.”
Frye discusses the lows of his recovery in his article, describing what he experienced and how he was able to see the light at the end of his rehab, which rewarded him with a four-year, $32 million contract. “I found a yoga teacher, and I started to get into golf,” Frye explained, “Those two things literally changed my life.” That and his new Johns Hopkins Doctors.
After bouncing from Orlando to Cleveland, a prime position to win an NBA title, Frye became a key role player for this past season’s Cavaliers team. Able to encourage his teammates off the bench while also scoring 27 points from seven out of nine three-point shooting in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Channing gracefully accepted his role on the bench in the NBA Finals against the best regular season team the NBA has ever seen.
For Channing Frye, it only seems fitting that he and the Cleveland Cavaliers won the Championship in the most difficult fashion ever; persevering through a seven-game series by winning three straight elimination games. There have been far too many times in Frye’s career when he would’ve called it quits. Thankfully, he stuck around ten seasons to capture his first championship.
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Channing has always positively represented the University of Arizona and more specifically it’s Men’s Basketball program. As the quintessential Cat of reinvention and perseverance, it’s refreshing to take the time to reflect on Channing’s championship and career up until this point while remembering what he had to overcome. From all of us at ZonaZealots, we’re glad that he never gave up. Bear Down!