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By John DentonNov. 1, 2014
ORLANDO – Possessing great wit and the owner of a sarcastic and sometimes cutting vocabulary, Channing Frye held no punches back when analyzing his long-awaited debut with the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.
``I thought I was hot trash,’’ Frye said bluntly.
Frye, who sprained the MCL in his left knee on the third day of training camp, missed four weeks of the preseason and the season-opening loss in New Orleans on Tuesday before seeing his first action in a Magic uniform on Thursday. Orlando fell 105-98 to Washington in a game that Frye started, but had little impact with just two points and two rebounds in 24 minutes.
Because Frye is still getting fully back into shape and learning his new teammates, he said Thursday’s first game back had a preseason feel to it for him. He hopes for better results tonight when the Magic (0-2) host Toronto (1-0) at the Amway Center.
Frye, a nine-year NBA veteran, is also hoping that he can factor into the Orlando offense much more than he did in the first game. He got just three shots, and one of those was a desperation heave at the end of the shot clock. He drilled his first try from 22 feet out after the defense had collapsed down inside on center Nikola Vucevic (23 points and 12 rebounds). Frye is well aware that the Magic heavily pursued him and ultimately signed him to a lucrative four-year contract to be a difference-maker in the offense.
``I want to be a threat and I feel like I was doing a lot of stranding and wondering what this guy or that guy was going to do. No offense, but I need to get more than three shots,’’ Frye said. ``I need to be more effective. It just comes down to watching more film, being a pro and coming to work.
``It’s talking with the coaching staff and learning, `Hey, if they switch (the pick-and-roll) or deny (the post) what would you like me to do?’ It’s a learning process,’’ Frye added. ``I would have seen these types of situations in the preseason or practice, but hey, no excuses.’’
The hard-luck Magic are making no excuses about the injuries that have hit them hard early this season. They were without Victor Oladipo (knee sprain and facial fracture) and Frye all preseason. They didn’t have either of those two in the first loss to the Pelicans. They got Frye back on a limited basis on Thursday, but bruising power forward Kyle O’Quinn was out with a sprained ankle. O’Quinn’s status for tonight’s game is still a game-time decision.
``He had to introduce himself to his teammates because he hasn’t played a bunch with those guys,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said of Vucevic. ``Just getting the feel for where his shots are going to come from and what is going to happen when the defense reacts to him – it’s going to take some time for him to get in a position where he’s comfortable with his teammates.’’
Orlando and a half-dozen NBA teams courted Frye over the summer because of the impact that his shooting stroke from the outside has on the dynamic of an offense. That proved to be true last season when he was statically one of the most efficient power forwards in the game, and many of his teammates were better when he was on the floor.
The hope in Orlando is that by being a threat at power forward, Frye can create driving lanes for Elfrid Payton and Tobias Harris, post freedom for Vucevic and open 3-point shots for Ben Gordon and Evan Fournier.
``When he’s the guy feeding me the ball and his guy helps on me, it’s a tough dig because of Channing’s ability to shoot and he releases the ball so high,’’ Vucevic said of Frye. ``He’ll be a good addition to not only me, but the rest of our team. … I’ve told (Frye) that if I kick the ball out to you, you’ve got to make that shot. Otherwise, I’m going to shoot it. I’m joking, but he is a good shooter and he’s going to help us a lot.’’
Now, it’s just about Frye learning his teammates’ tendencies and finding gaps in the defense and ways to create offense for himself and others. Frye joked that his first Magic points came on ``the only time that they left me open, and I think they got cussed out, too.’’
Frye made this much for clear after the first game: He expects to factor more into the Magic’s offense as he works his way back fully into the offense. And, no he stressed, the knee that he injured a month ago had nothing to do with his inactivity in the opener. He vowed to be more aggressive in looking for his shot tonight.
``As much running as I’ve been doing I could run the Boston Marathon at this point. I’m not worried about my knee,’’ he said. ``I would not have been out there if I had had any qualms about my knee and that stupid knee brace. But it is what it is and it felt great when I actually got a chance to shoot the ball. That third (shot) doesn’t count, but I thought the second one was pretty good with a little in-and-out going on. So two shots, that’s not bad.’’