Player Predictions: French Frye.

[SUN]

Hey everyone!

I was wondering if you can give me some feed back on Channing, do you think he'll improve? Do you think he'll get a cut in minutes, get MORE minutes, or even become a starter? Will he be a more efficient scorer/3pt shooter, or will he be a huge failure?

[Calvin Klein]

He will probably be over used. I hope he improves his rebounding and defense. And maybe get a little better at that off the dibble shot he likes to take so much (but fails most of the time).

[lilfishi22]

I'm expecting him to play similar if not slightly more minutes than last season despite the added depth in the front court. Like CK mentioned, I think he'll be overused since Gentry will be looking to try and open the paint up more for slashers (Hedo, JRich, JCHill) and PnR'ers (Lopez, Warrick) and also because Gentry has a habit of playing Frye extended minutes since he's comfortable with him.

I think the biggest challenge for the Suns this season will be trying to not become a jumpshooting only team and ironically, Frye's 3PT shooting and (hopefully) post play will be what should solve the problem. Amare does well operating in the paint with not a whole lot of space in the PnR since he has such great hands and an unmatched finishing ability. Or current PnR'ers, Lopez and Warrick don't have that ability so I expect Gentry will try and give them as much a space to operate as possible and this is where Frye's 3PT shooting will come in. Keeping the lane open will also allow our slashers and Nash to do their work.

That said, I also expect Frye not to match his 3PT FG% from last season. I think taking away Amare's inside presence will allow defenders to stick out on the perimeters more than usual meaning Frye will have less open looks than before. However, I still think he'd be shooting at a very high clip, probably in the region of 40%.

I'd like to see him bulk up a little bit more so he can play in the post more often. I think he has an underrated hook shot which he used when (rarely) he was in the post last season. If he bulked up a little, he'll be rebounding more and could provide some post scoring to complement his outside game. If he could switch from playing the post (even if he doesn't score) and playing at the perimeter every few possessions, I think that would be enough to keep us dangerous when our starters get some rest and make him a better player. It might be a lot to expect from a guy who got paid for just shooting 3's last season but he definitely has the ability to be a better all-around player.

As of right now, I think the starters are pretty much set at Nash/JRich/Hill/Hedo/Lopez. I think that's the most logical lineup since Hedo's contract and play warrants a starting role and Hill is awful off the bench. So Frye will most likely come off the bench just as he did last season. The reason I don't think his minutes will drop is because the only competition he'll have coming on for Lopez will be the rookie, Lawal.