July 8, 2006
Frye Seems to Pick Up Right Where He Left Off
By HOWARD BECK

LAS VEGAS, July 7 — A Hall of Fame coach has come and gone, trades have been made and second-guessed, grievances have been aired. The Knicks remain a story of mostly misery and discontent, except when the site is Las Vegas, the month is July and the best player on the floor is Channing Frye.

A year ago, the Knicks made Frye the eighth pick in the draft, then turned him loose in the summer league as their best symbol of hope for the future. Nothing had changed by Friday afternoon.

The Knicks were back at Cox Pavilion, where Frye made his N.B.A. debut last summer. The greatest curiosity on the court was Renaldo Balkman, perhaps the most-discussed 20th pick in draft history, and the greatest entertainer was Nate Robinson. But Frye's successful return — 19 points and 5 rebounds in a 95-71 rout of Cleveland — mattered most.

The last time Frye was in a Knicks uniform, on March 21, he was writhing on the Madison Square Garden court, clutching his left knee. A sprained ligament, caused when Robinson shoved an opponent into Frye's leg, ended his promising rookie season.

Three and a half months later, Frye seemed perfectly at ease, if a little rusty. He took a team-high 17 shots, making 8, and was caught making silly fouls, but it was an encouraging start.

"You forget how big he is and how long he is sometimes," Coach Isiah Thomas said. "We hadn't seen him play for a long time, and to have him out on the floor, seeing him shoot the ball and get up and down the court, it's good seeing him."

Frye is not wearing a brace or sleeve on the knee and said, "I haven't felt pain for a long time."

That may be the most positive development the Knicks have had in months, possibly since Frye earned rookie of the month honors in November. A power forward with a sweet shooting stroke, Frye averaged 14.2 points and 6.1 rebounds in his first month as a pro. But, like most of the Knicks, Frye never got the benefit of a consistent role in Coach Larry Brown's ever-changing rotation.

It was a frustrating experience for Frye, although he was careful not to say so during the season. Then his season came to a premature and painful end, right around the time everything else was going wrong with the Knicks.

"That's just a bad dream, what happened last year," Frye said. He was referring to the injury, but that more or less summarized the entire season. Given Frye's strong start, and the Knicks' stated commitment to rebuilding with youth, Frye was expected to play a major role the rest of the season.

But Brown used an N.B.A.-record 42 lineups and Frye's minutes fluctuated wildly. In a rare moment of candor, Frye told reporters earlier this week that the inconsistency hurt him, and the team.

"If I told you to do something different every day at the newspaper or the TV station, how would it work out?" he said. "But that was his coaching style and he made the decisions he made, and our record showed it. This year, hopefully, with a little more consistency that Isiah brings and the attitude that we're going to bring, I think we'll be all right."

As angry as team officials are with Brown, they were not pleased to see Frye, Robinson and David Lee — last year's rookies — criticize their former coach. Frye sounded chastened as he revisited those comments Friday.

"He made the decisions that he made," Frye said of Brown. "I'm not mad at him. It was a character-building situation."

Frye later added: "I think Larry is one of the greatest coaches around. I just felt like last year we just had a lot of things that didn't go right. I think I'm basically just trying to move on."

With Thomas, the team's architect, now on the bench, Frye should have every opportunity to shine. He has been characterized as a franchise player, and Thomas — given one year to save his job — needs Frye to show it as soon as possible.

The Knicks' faith in Frye is clear. They have declined numerous trade proposals — including one for the Lakers' Lamar Odom — in the past six months because they refuse to deal Frye. His name comes up in nearly every trade discussion.

Frye called the trade rumors "just flattering." He did not dismiss or play down his role as the would-bee franchise savior.

"That's a lot of responsibility, especially in New York," he said. "So every day I just try to go 100 percent on the court and do the best that I can. It's a lot of responsibility, but I think I'm up to it."

REBOUNDS

The rookies Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins joined last year's rookie class — Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee — in the starting lineup. ... Robinson scored a team-high 23 points and seemed to enjoy the freedom of not playing for Larry Brown. Robinson finished a fast break with a bounce pass to himself for a two-handed dunk and generally played the showboat all afternoon. ... Balkman scored 6 points, all in the first quarter. He had a flying baseline dunk and a two-handed breakaway dunk. He wore a brace on his sprained left knee, but said he felt fine.


[Edited by - Killa4luv on 07-08-2006 10:39 AM]

Team officials are mad at last year's rookies?

I guess this is the opposite of what some people believe to be the rookies were prep by the Knicks to make those commits about Brown.

Channing looked great yesterday. I'm done talking about Brown, its old news, we think one way and you think anyother Killa, your never going to let it go.

I hope Channing can continue to showcase that back to the basket game that he showcased beautifully yesterday. If Frye can play a bit more in the post this year, it's going to be such a improvement for the Knicks and will make guarding Frye extremely hard. Now if Eddy just shows up in shape....

come on eddy...where are you dang it...if you are even close to how mcguire described you "not IN shape, but in BETTER shape" I think I'll take that.

yeah, nate started rough, launching the jabbering, but he settled down, maybe he's just one of those guys that starts off all hopped up.

Posted by Killa4luv:

Posted by BigC:

Team officials are mad at last year's rookies?

I guess this is the opposite of what some people believe to be the rookies were prep by the Knicks to make those commits about Brown.

they will spin this too though.

Killa you can't see how they clearly planned this. So that it would look like they weren't the ones to give orders to bash Brown in there favor. Sure the player would take the heat for it. But they agreed to give them more playing time if they said what they said and then management acted like they were upset.

Frye, Lee and Nate have no business complaining about time played on the court. Frye should not be complaining about anything. It sets a bad example and hopefully nothing carries over 'attitude wise' to this next season. They were rookies and they needed to be put into place, whatever place that might have been, wether you agreed with Browns tactics or not. Rookies have no say on this matter, during the time of Brown's position with the team. I suspect they were being influenced by guys such as, and perhaps solely by starbury. Granted, Brown's gone and it doesn't matter anymore, so none of the players should not be talking about this anymore.

This thread is about how Frye seems to be picking up right where he left off from last year. The only way Brown gets mentioned is if you guys find a way for it to be becuase you can't let anything go.