Orlando Magic Mid-Season Player Grades

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B+

Offensive Rating:  80.4
Defensive Rating:  76.6

Channing Frye has just about recaptured the form he displayed in his breakout season in Phoenix. Frye has been better on both ends of the court this year, and he is in fact shooting a career-high 42.2 percent from 3-point range this season. Also improved has been his overall field goal percentage which is 45.9 percent, a full six percentage points higher than he was last season.

Frye’s biggest improvement has come in getting some buckets around the basket, while knocking down threes at a higher rate than ever before. While Frye is still attempting 68.9 percent of his looks as threes, that mark is down slightly from last year’s 71 percent and the small improvement has been apparent. He has put the ball on the floor a little more and is having one of his best offensive seasons from an efficiency standpoint.

Frye has also been passable on the defensive end.

Like many of his teammates, Frye is keeping his hands in the air and helping the team come up with steals and deflections. Per-36 minutes, Frye is averaging 1.9 steals/blocks this season which is up from last year’s 1.7.

It is a mark that hovers at about where Harris is, and the cousins do a fine job of helping Orlando play better team defense. Frye’s defense had been atop the list of reasons he was not able to see more playing time last year, but this year the improvement under Scott Skiles has been noticeable.

Next: Breakout season, please?