Channing Frye has been money in Cleveland Cavaliers’ recent win streak

Veteran Channing Frye has been crucial for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, despite having limited minutes.

Many people have had their opinions about Channing Frye. He’s a pretty chill guy in general, as he’s got a funny podcast with ex-Cav Richard Jefferson and reporter Allie Clifton called ‘Road Trippin,’ and he’s a quintessential spot-up shooter on the floor. It’s not as if I know him personally, but on all accounts, Frye seems like “one of the guys” on the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s also been pretty important to their recent success, and he’s had his postseason moments already, anyhow.

In a Cavs’ season that has been filled with inconsistency, Frye has been pretty consistent with his limited role. Initially, it was reported by Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com that Tyronn Lue “apologized to Channing Frye for losing his rotation spot,” but it appears that Frye has made his presence felt, anyway.

Although Frye is starting the year playing the least amount of minutes per game in his career (per Basketball-Reference), he’s been productive. Playing with lower minutes has enabled him to be aggressive with his shot-making, and he’s been hitting at a considerably high clip when his number has been called.

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He’s leading the Cavs in offensive rating, and he’s only behind Kyle Korver and LeBron James in effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage on the Cavs, per nba.com. Along with that, Frye is leading Cleveland in plus-minus and is second in net rating, trailing only Cedi Osman, who has mostly been playing when games are already decided. In the last two games, he’s really been on a tear.

In the Cavs’ comeback victory over the New York Knicks, Frye was right in the thick of things. He had nine big points and led the Cavs in plus-minus at plus-20, as he was key in spacing the floor for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

With Kevin Love and Jae Crowder struggling mightily throughout the game on both ends, Frye was able to provide a spark, and the two-headed three-point shooting monster of him and Korver has always meshed well with James. Those three combined to have ten threes, many of which came in the closing stretches to bury Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks.

Against the Charlotte Hornets in the Cavs’ last game, Frye was money again. He had nine points and was 4-8 from the field, to go with eight rebounds which helped Love underneath. Again, he led Cleveland as a plus-14. The three-man combination of Wade-Korver-Frye has shown great chemistry on this road trip as they’ve had more opportunities, as was demonstrated by broadcaster John Michael.

I’m not saying that is sustainable by any means, but Frye is still a valuable piece in short spurts on this Cavs roster. Cleveland needs him with their current injuries, particularly to Tristan Thompson, as both a floor spacer and secondary rebounder.

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With him on the floor, especially with Korver and Wade, Frye provides an easy perimeter passing target for James when he penetrates. In the playoffs specifically, the Cavs could use his services.