Top-ten free agent signings in Phoenix Suns history
By Adam Maynes
6. Channing Frye
(20.1 WS / .111 WS per-48)
Home grown, Channing Frye entered the league out of the University of Arizona. A decent, if not underweight center, who struggled to find himself in the league unable to play against the bigger, more weighty centers he would have to oppose.
After two years in New York, then two more with Portland, Channing seemed lost and possibly on the verge of never finding a real niche in the NBA, a possible bust as a top-ten lottery draftee.
And then he met Steve Nash and Alvin Gentry.
Upon his signing with the Suns, Gentry made Frye an outside shooter. A player who had attempted a total of 70 3-pointers in four years (making 20). With Nash that all changed . Frye drained 343 in two seasons, his first the franchise’s last run in the playoffs, 2010. This skill-set and ability to stretch the floor allowed him to become one of the most potent stretch-centers in the league, and a lethal aid to Steve Nash. He was able to rebuild his career with Phoenix and literally at the hands of Nash, which at one point seemed over nearly after it had just started, but has now stretched through to today.
In the midst of Channing’s prime, he was struck by the news that he had an enlarged heart and was forced to miss the entire 2012-13 season. He came back the following year and started all 82 games, picking up nearly exactly where he left off, but with the Suns beginning their long rebuild and moving on from key players, Channing signed a free agent deal with the Orlando Magic.