4. He’s a good 3-point shooter
As much as the Lakers dramatically improved their team this offseason, they still failed to address a huge weakness: 3-point shooting. In 2017-18 they were 29th in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage. Such a skill set is an absolute necessity for success in this league, especially since the Lakers plan on playing some hardcore uptempo basketball.
Channing Frye has always been a really good, if not a great, 3-point shooter. For his career, he’s shot 38.7 percent from downtown, and just one season ago (2016-17) he shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc.
The Lakers will need to hit a good amount of their treys this season so that opposing defenses won’t be able to load up the paint and stymie the likes of Lebron, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo as they attack the paint and look to score.
To be fair, the Lakers probably won’t be as bad an outside shooting team this season as Ingram, Kuzma, James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Josh Hart have all showed the ability to be solid 3-point shooters. But as they say, good is the enemy of great. None of them have ever been dead-eye 3-point snipers who the other team absolutely cannot and will not leave open.
Frye pretty much fits that description.