Acquired from the New York Knicks prior to the 2007-2008 season, Channing Frye has become an important part of the Trail Blazers success. The following is an extended version of an interview that first appeared in Rip City Magazine.

Casey Holdahl: What was life like for you growing up?

Channing Frye: Life as a kid was pretty good. Both my parents were there. I was always active. My parents always had me doing something, whether it was boy scouts, or being in the band, or playing basketball or just being out of the house doing something. Being in Arizona, it’s kind of hot, so there’s not a whole lot to do, so basically all we did was play basketball.

High school was kind of awkward. I was like, 6-9, 6-10, gangly. I was really growing into myself. My parents wanted me to go to a private school, so I went to St. Mary’s Prep, and I actually did a pretty good job. I think I grew up a lot.

Casey Holdahl: It sounds like you have a very well-rounded childhood.

Channing Frye: My parents didn’t want me just to be, per say, just a basketball player. They always wanted me to have other options just in case. I think that was a pretty smart plan by them. They got me involved in a lot of different things that a lot of other people might not necessarily be exposed to.

So now that’s kind of who I am. I’m a little bit of everything. I don’t want to just go somewhere and be like, ‘Well, this is not my style.’ I want to be able to go and listen to different types of music and blend in as much as I can. To be able just to be normal for a day or for a second, you know? That’s kind of why I go to the places I go to, why I hang out with the people I hang with. If you want to be you, whatever you are, that’s fine with me as long as you’re that type of person all the time.

Casey Holdahl: It seems like you came to the Trail Blazers at just the right time. How was your transition from New York to Portland?

Channing Frye: Me personally, I think Portland is exactly what I needed at the right time. I’m kind of a believer that everything happens for a reason. Out there, there was just too much for me and that’s just not the type of person I am. I’m more of a laid back Portland-type of guy. I like the fact that there’s not so much stuff to do here in relation to New York and that people seem to make time for their lives. It’s just a much more open place to be.

As a player in New York, everybody was already paid; everybody was in the latter years of their contracts. Things just came with a different attitude. Here, not very many people are paid; everyone is a legit hard worker. Just cool guys. They’re some of the coolest guys that I’ve met so far.

Casey Holdahl: What do you think your role on this team is?

Channing Frye: Every night I’m kind of expected to do a little bit of everything. I feel like everybody looks at me to space the floor, to run the floor, to guard, to rebound, to just do the intangibles. I think the fact that I can do a lot of these things really gives us a different look and really gives coach different options.

Nobody has an attitude about coming off the bench. We have guys who are coming off the bench that can start on other teams. For me, I’m out there thinking about what I can do to make this team better What can I do to affect this game and really make my mark on it, to give us the best chance to win? Every night it’s always something. I kind of amaze myself. Some nights I go out there and score and other night’s teams will take me out of the game offensively, so I try to do things other ways. I try to get rebounds, play good defense and guard the tougher guys. There are a lot of things you can do on the court besides scoring. Some guys have to do the dirty work.

Casey Holdahl: What is the chemistry like right now of this team?

Channing Frye: The chemistry we have, I think, is Top 5 in the league. Basically because of what we did at the beginning of the year, with a bunch of us coming here early to work out, we’ve got a lot of trust in each other. We have guys here that stay late, come early, come in on days that we have off, just trying to continue to get better all the time. You can trust those guys to take the majority of the shots. You trust those guys enough to give them the ball in crunch-time because you know they work on it. And they can also trust us because we’ve done the same thing. Everybody’s prepared to be leaders, but everyone understands that is not going to be our roll all the time.

Casey Holdahl: The Rose Garden has really come to life this season. What’s it been like to play in front of sold-out home crowds?

Channing Frye: The fans are ridiculous here. I think they have been great for us all year. When we were going through our troubled times they were always supportive, and that’s what we needed. That’s what basketball teams need is people who are just going to support and continue to do that no matter what happens on the court.

I just feel like the fans have continued to trust us and they see how hard we’re working and how bad we want to win at this game. It’s almost crazy for me because I’ve never really felt a complete home court advantage. Now I know what it means.

Casey Holdahl: With the team’s recent successes, some fans have started thinking about the playoffs. What do you think the chances are of making the post-season this year?

Channing Frye: I think it just depends on us. To be honest, I think that if we can continue to stay healthy, God willing, if we can continue to play the game the right way and really try to get better and stay hungry, I think we can do some good things. I think you still haven’t seen us play our best basketball, so that’s kind of exciting to me. It’s a good situation when you have guys who are going to contribute and work all year long.

Casey Holdahl: Where do you think this team is headed in the future?

Channing Frye: I think our prospects for the future are great. I think we have a good core group of guys. We’ve only really played ball together for four months. Can you imagine what’s going to happen next year, once everybody really understands what we need to do and how the coaches coach? There are just a lot of good things that we can do here as long as everybody stays together with the same attitudes that we have.