For Suns’ Frye, a Big Improvement From Long Range
By FRED BIERMAN
In his first four seasons, Channing Frye hit 20 career 3-pointers. This season, Frye has hit 114 and through Thursday was second in the league to the Knicks’ Danilo Gallinari (118) in 3-pointers made.
At one point, Frye, the Phoenix center, was leading the league, but has cooled a little bit of late. Because of his history of not making 3-pointers, teams were daring him to shoot for the first part of the season. After seeing that Frye could consistently hit from long range (he made six 3-pointers in a game in early January), teams adjusted and Frye went into a bit of a 3-point slump over the last few weeks. Frye was eventually demoted in favor of Robin Lopez.
Lately, however, it seems as if Frye is back in the groove. Last Monday and Tuesday, he hit nine 3-pointers in losses to Utah and Charlotte and had his highest-scoring nights in three weeks.
Big men have certainly improved at shooting 3-pointers. Orlando power forward Rashard Lewis led the league with 330 last season. Other big men like Larry Bird and Antoine Walker have led the league in 3-pointers made, but if Frye gets hot again down the stretch, he will be the first center to lead the N.B.A. in 3-pointers since the league allowed the shot in 1981. That is a pretty amazing turnaround for a guy who hit 11 3-pointers last season.
