Channing Frye on When His Coach Discouraged Him From Shooting
Despite being a killer shooter, his coach told him to stop shooting jumpers and be a rim runner.
Channing Frye was one of the most skilled pick-and-pop shooters of his time.
When he joined the Phoenix Suns in 2009, he became one of the original stretch big men, shooting just under five three-pointers a game and making roughly 40 percent of his shots.
He even participated in the 3-point contest in 2010, becoming the first center since Sam Perkins in 1997 to compete.
Indeed, he was a skilled shooter.
But in his rookie season, his coach, Larry Brown, discouraged him from shooting.
“I remember when I was rookie, I was shooting face-up jumpers; I was barbeque-ing people and Larry Brown at the time was, ‘Son, don’t shoot any more jumpers. I need you to get to the rack,’” Frye told Zach Collins on the Road Trippin’ Podcast.
Frye, obviously, responded to his coach in disbelief. He was playing well and destroying his defenders, so it was odd to him that his coach would tell him to switch up what he was doing.
But now that he’s older and wiser, Frye understands why his coach did that.
The reason Coach Brown made that comment, Frye says, was to get his big man to do other things and not be a one-trick pony.
“All he was asking me to do -because he can see it- was to get uncomfortable for a little bit so that I could be better in a month. He wasn’t looking at tomorrow, he was looking at a month.”
Frye also added that he -and players in this situation- should have taken it as a compliment.
“It was actually a compliment that he goes, ‘roll to the hoop for this’ and then you stop worrying about it… he was just like, ‘Don’t focus on that. Do other stuff,’ right?
This is a lesson I believe all young players need to learn.
A coach or trainer discouraging you from doing something you’re good at doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re out to harm you.
They often do it because they see your potential and want you to realize your own range. They want you to work on different facets of the game because they believe you can develop that skill/s and that it will benefit you in the future.
So, don’t get upset when they call you out. They just want to help you be better.
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