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Flexible Frye wants to be back for start of season
Forward hopes to make more 3s and keep his spot in the rotation

By Steve Brandon
The Portland Tribune, Sep 29, 2008

The Blazers said they expected Channing Frye to fully recover in eight to 10 weeks from Sept. 8 arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle.

But Frye has his own timetable.

The fourth-year forward says he hopes to be practicing 10 days before the start of the regular season. That would be Oct. 18; the Blazers open Oct. 28 at the L.A. Lakers.

“It’s pushing it a little, but I think it’s reasonable,” Frye says.

Frye says he wants the 10 days of practice so he can be in good shape for the opening game.

“I don’t want to be dragging,” he says.

“I don’t have any time to waste this year,” he adds. “I’m determined to keep my spot and maybe get some more minutes.”

Frye came to Portland last season in the Zach Randolph deal with New York. He averaged 17.2 minutes, 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds, shooting .488 from the field.

He says he’s 80 percent recovered from the surgery but hasn’t started running. He wants to be as close to 100 percent as he can before he plays and admits that his 10 days before the season timetable is a “best-case scenario” that might not sit well with team trainer Jay Jensen.

"I'll have to listen to my body," he says.

In the surgery, doctors “were amazed at all the stuff — the loose bodies — they found inside” his ankle “and how I played on it,” he says.

Frye says he feels his flexibility returning and that it was great for him to have the procedure.

He’s been hoisting 3-pointers in the offseason, hoping to extend his range and take advantage of defenses he figures will have to sag on Greg Oden and double-team the rookie center and returning power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.

Frye is only 9 of 37 on 3s in his three NBA seasons. He was 3 of 10 last season. But since he’s often close to the arc as the Blazers try to spread the floor offensively, he figures “why not take one step back and shoot a 3?”

Will coach Nate McMillan go for that?

“If I make it, he’s going to let me shoot it,” Frye says.

Beyond that, Frye says his goal is “to really work on my outside defense” as well as do the “little things.”

But “putting the ball in the hole, that’s what I do best.”

And he says he sees the Blazers playing a more fast-paced brand of basketball this season. And he thinks point guard Steve Blake is ready to lead and distribute at a high level.

Blake has been the most eye-catching, improved team member “by far,” this summer, Frye says. “He’s tenacious. Steve’s a winner. People really underrate him, and that’s extra motivation.”

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