Topic: Channing Frye

Channing Thomas Frye (born May 17, 1983, in White Plains, New York) is an American professional basketball player and currently plays for the Phoenix Suns. His positions are center and power forward. He attended the University of Arizona. Standing at 6 ft 11 in and 245 lb, Frye was selected 8th overall by the New York Knicks in the 2005 NBA Draft, and was the first college senior to be selected in that draft. Channing Frye was named the Rookie of the Month for November 2005 along with the New Orleans Hornets' Chris Paul.

Frye scored his career high of 30 points (14–18 FG, 2–2 FT), along with 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in his first matchup with the number-one pick from the 2005 NBA Draft, Andrew Bogut. He matched his career high on January 6, against the Washington Wizards, shooting 11–13 from the floor and 7–8 from the free throw line. He is considered to be one of the best rookies from the 2005 NBA Draft and was consistently ranked high in the NBA Rookie Rankings. On March 21, 2006, Channing sprained his left knee ligament in a game against the Toronto Raptors when Raptors guard Andre Barrett lost his balance and smashed his shoulder into Frye's knee. Channing missed the rest of the 2005–2006 NBA season.

David Lee, a power forward, led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, and was statistically superior to Frye in almost every category, but Isiah Thomas, until February 3, 2007, kept Frye in the starting lineup. Thomas' rationale was that Frye is a superior perimeter shooter, and his perimeter shooting would make it harder for teams to double team Knicks leading scorer Eddy Curry. On February 3, in a game against the Orlando Magic, Thomas took Frye out of the starting lineup and replaced him with little-used center, Jerome James. James had only appeared in 19 of the Knicks' 48 games, and averaged 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in those games. Thomas explained the change, saying, "I think Jerome is one of the best defensive big men in the game in terms of the center position."