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Channing Frye is loving the irony. For four years at Arizona people said he was too nice -- which was a nice way of saying he was too soft. That was the accusation: He'd never become great until he became mean.
Now take a look at the 2005 NBA Draft board. See that blur rocketing up the board? That's Frye.
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| Channing Frye's shooting range is also helping him climb up teams' draft boards. (Getty Images) |
"That's awesome," Frye said.
Frye talks like that, like a goofball, because that's what he is. A nice goofball -- in a 6-foot-11, 250-pound body with solid shooting range and good footwork. All of those characteristics have helped Frye become one of the biggest climbers in the 2005 draft, but none has helped as much as his character. Several NBA scouts told CBS SportsLine.com that Frye's personality makes him one of the safest picks in the draft.
While some of the younger big men in the draft might have more potential -- uninspired Chris Taft of Pittsburgh, puzzling Randolph Morris of Kentucky and callow Andrew Bynum of St. Joseph's (N.J.) High School -- Frye is a sure thing. He might never be an NBA All-Star, but he'll never be a problem, either.
That has value -- more than even Frye thought possible.
"It's crazy," Frye said last week from Chicago, where he and other potential lottery picks were weighed and measured by the NBA. "It's kind of funny. I didn't work out (for any teams) for weeks, but my stock kept rising. For me to be in this situation, it's awesome."
And unexpected. Last month, Frye was considered a first-rounder but not a lottery pick. Now it appears that Frye probably won't slip below the New York Knicks at the No. 8 pick.
Frye was a four-year starter at Arizona, where he scored 1,789 points and grabbed 975 rebounds. As a senior he averaged 15.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots, shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 83 percent from the foul line. Some of his best games were against his best opponents: 19 points and nine rebounds against Utah's Andrew Bogut, 18 and 16 against Mississippi State's Lawrence Roberts, 20 and 13 against Stanford's Matt Haryasz.
Frye's stock probably started its ascent in the NCAA Tournament, where in four games he averaged 15.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocks, and shot 65 percent from the floor. It continued last week in Chicago, where Frye hoisted 185 pounds on the bench press 19 times -- seven more than burly Sean May, and only two less than monstrous Ike Diogu.
Whoever gets Frye will get a mobile big man who can shoot comfortably from 18 feet and who handles the ball well enough to have accumulated more assists than turnovers over his final two seasons at Arizona.
Whoever gets Frye also will get a goofball. Frye promises.
