Channing Frye’s impact goes beyond what he contributes

Channing Frye remains the target for those looking to make changes to the starting lineup. But it is also clear his contributions are large for the Magic.

Scott Skiles is seemingly always one blowout loss away from threatening a lineup change.

He has made the threat at least a few times — once going through with it when he moved Victor Oladipo to the bench in favor of Channing Frye. The first lineup change worked to get the Magic moving in the right direction again.

Now that the Magic have lost five of the past six games and have looked like one of the worst teams in the league in that time — the fourth lowest net rating since Jan. 1. With some questions about precision and focus to principles arising, the lineup change threat arose again.

Even with ample time off to prepare for the team’s game in London on Thursday, the Magic are far from out of the woods. And the more the team struggles, the more the calls for change will come inevitably.

And much like the 2015 season, the calls have focused on that initial change — Channing Frye.

It is true, Frye has struggled mightily during this losing stretch. In January, Frye is averaging just 4.2 points per game and more alarmingly, shooting just 2 for 13 from beyond the arc.

When Frye is missing his shots, it is hard to find his value. There is no doubt about that. It is easy to look at a box score, see very little and draw conclusions.

Certainly Frye’s effectiveness is reliant on his 3-point shooting. He has to make shots. That is his main role.

It certainly is not out there to play defense, where he can get beat one on one by quicker power forwards.

Yet, Frye does matter. Despite his lack of individual production, there is rhyme to continuing to start Frye.

The Magic have a higher net rating with only one player other than Frye — the injured C.J. Watson, highlighting in a small sample size the importance of his absence. The Magic are 6.3 points per 100 possessions better with Frye. Currently, the team’s offensive and defensive rating are the same overall.

What the numbers reveal is that the Magic this season play significantly better offensively and the defense remains strong. Orlando has a 106.6 offensive rating with Frye on the floor and a 100.3 defensive rating.

In 304 of his 603 minutes, he has played with the current starting lineup of Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic. That group has a +9.0 net rating. But individually, none of those players has a positive net rating.

To further matters, Frye ranks among the top 20 in the league in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus statistic — the only player in the top 20 playing less than 20 minutes per game. As late as last week when the Magic faced the Pistons, Frye was in the top 15.

This would all suggest something about having Frye on the floor makes this group work better.

January does tell a different story. There is no doubt that many of the players on the team are struggling mightily in the past six games. Frye has the second worst net rating in January with the team going -25.9 points per 100 possessions with him in on the floor.

The frustration with Frye and his inability to produce should exist. The questions about what to do with the lineup should certainly exist with the current slide the Magic are in. But it is a relatively small portion of Frye’s season — 102 of 603 minutes this season.

And, in the end, it is not like Frye is playing humongous minutes or finishing games.

It will be a situation to monitor for sure, especially if the Magic fail to turn things around whether or not Elfrid Payton returns from injury.

There is another factor to Frye and why the Magic want him on the floor. For this young team, the 32-year-old forward has become something of a leader keeping them even and filling his role quietly.

That is the point of all those numbers above. He just seemed to make things fit. And that is his role behind the scenes, which Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk wrote about last week:

"Though he calls “veteran leader” a “weird kind of term,” Frye is Orlando’s oldest and most-experienced player. And he acts like it.“We’re supposed to be that new up-and-coming team,” said Frye, whose Magic (19-16) are tied for eighth in the East but just three games behind second place. “Teams are going to scout you. They’re going to make you do things you don’t want to do. They’re going to switch my screen-and-rolls. They’re not going to let Vuc go left all the time. So, for us, we have to adjust and accept this responsibility.”"

The Frye discussion is not going to change too much. The bottom line is that this is a results league and both Frye’s individual production and the lineup production with him in the game have suffered during this recent stretch.

Elfrid Payton’s absence plays a role for sure. So too does the competition level. So too does the way the team is playing as a whole. So too does Frye’s sometimes reluctance to shoot — he will go through periods where he does not let the ball fly with the same immediacy.

Frye is not someone who changes the game by his play. He really changes the game for the Magic by the threat of what he can do. That one thing that makes him valuable — his shooting. He needs others to create and use that advantage.

Here Payton’s absence is most stark. Payton is adept at running pick and rolls and getting into the paint without the thought of scoring. He sets up Nikola Vucevic for pops or Evan Fournier on the perimeter for 3-pointers or cuts to the lane. When he has the cutting lanes, Frye’s presence can be seen more stark as defenders fail to collapse the paint.

Without that, perhaps it is time to sit Frye and wait to pair him with Payton for that return. The duo has a +9.0 net rating (107.0 offensive rating and 98.0 defensive rating) and is probably the most effective duo by this measure of players who commonly play together (they have played 414 minutes together).

Next: Evan Fournier's struggles continue for Orlando Magic

It can be frustrating to see little in the box score and Frye needs to correct his shot. But in the larger picture, it has been clear this year, Frye makes a large impact by his presence even if his raw production is not large.