Bleacher Report showed how former Cavs big Channing Frye leaned into floor spacing role

Bleacher Report recently showed how former Cleveland Cavaliers big Channing Frye was a great floor spacing big man presence.

When Channing Frye was on the Cleveland Cavaliers, his main contribution came as a key floor spacing presence. That was mostly in his time in LeBron James’ second tenure with the Cavs.

Frye was a trade addition from the Orlando Magic near the 2016 deadline by the Cavaliers, and right when he got Cleveland, you knew what his role was. That was to play some spot minutes and give the likes of James, then-Kyrie Irving and others a key floor spacing big.

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Frye excelled in that role in the spot-up/pick-and-pop sense, and when Frye was in the game in the postseason, he made his presence felt from three-point range at times in some matchups, too.

Also factoring in Frye’s last year with the Cavs/of his career in 2018-19 via team-friendly deal after he came back after being dealt at the 2018 deadline to the Los Angeles Lakers, Frye hit 39.2 percent of his three-point attempts.

In 13.5 minutes per game of burn with Cleveland in the 2016 and 2017 postseasons, he hit a red-hot 54.1 percent from downtown, too.

Needless to say, when Frye was in the game with the Wine and Gold, it was primarily to space the floor for others, and for him to knock down deep balls.

Frye did that throughout much of his career in other places, too, though, and recently, he was praised for his work in that realm.

Bleacher Report recently showed how the former Cleveland Cavaliers big in Frye fully leaned into a floor spacing role in much of his career.

Recently, in a piece focused on highlighting their 10 best shooting bigs in NBA history, Bleacher Report had Frye clocked in at number six, of which the piece was published by writer Andy Bailey. As far as how Bailey/Bleacher Report came to their rankings, here was the thought process.

"“First, we narrowed league history down to a sample group of players who are 6’9″ and up, played at least 60 percent of their career possessions as a power forward or center and launched at least 500 three-point attempts.From there, we calculated the points over average from the field (subtract the player’s effective field-goal percentage from the league average for the time and then multiply by the number of field-goal attempts) and the points over average from three (subtract the player’s three-point percentage from the league average for the time and then multiply by the number of three-point attempts) for each member of that group.Finally, we sorted each player in the group by the average of his rank in those two metrics.”"

Bailey would hit on how the list does play much more to the modern NBA, which puts such an emphasis on bigs being able to space the floor/shoot from beyond the arc. That makes sense, really.

In terms of the rationale for Frye being at number six on that list, here was what Bailey said (with stats per Basketball Reference). This noted how Frye was not really a deep threat in his first NBA stints with the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers, but how his Phoenix Suns’ run and then-head coach Mike D’Antoni changed everything.

"“Over Channing Frye’s first four seasons with the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers, he was 20-of-70 (28.6 percent) from three. Then Mike D’Antoni and the Phoenix Suns got ahold of him.During his five years in Phoenix, Frye was 15th in the league (and second among bigs) in total threes. And that run included the 2012-13 campaign, which Frye missed entirely with an enlarged heart.By the time he retired, Frye had hit 1,049 threes while shooting 38.8 percent from deep. He’s second all-time in threes made by a 7-footer.”"

Bailey’s explanation there demonstrated how Frye fully leaned into his role as a key floor spacing big from his time in Phoenix on. From a Cavs fan’s perspective, his knockdown shooting brought a rotational spark when he was on the floor, too.

Aside from Frye’s easygoing personality and being such a likable guy that so endeared himself to Cleveland, it was evident that Frye knew what his role was when he was out there. When he was in, he was in to help draw out opposing bigs due to his spot-up/pick-and-pop shooting prowess, and he knew that.

That was always comforting to know from the veteran, who was a true team-first guy through and through.

As a brief side note, former longtime Cleveland Cavaliers forward, and later on, general manager Danny Ferry, who was originally dealt to the Cavs by the LA Clippers, also made that B/R/Bailey list. He clocked in at number nine.

Ferry was quite the catch-and-shoot threat in his own right for Cleveland as well that hit 38.5 percent from deep for the Cavs.

That said, the mentioning of Frye seemed to jump out more in just showing how Frye fully leaned into a floor spacing role even more and with the modern focus, we saw more perimeter shooting volume from Frye. That was in his most notable years, at least.

Clearly, the member of the 2016 Cavs championship squad in Frye was going to hoist them up with no hesitation when he was in the game for Cleveland and did so in other spots.

This appearance on that B/R list, which rightfully had Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki at number one, just further indicates that from Frye, too.