Channing Frye: ‘Anthony Davis is having an amazing year, even better than LeBron, and it’s getting wasted’

Channing Frye, one of the top NBA analysts, was one of the league’s ambassadors in Paris taking part in a four-day basketball extravaganza that included the Nets vs. Cavs game. The 2016 NBA champion sat down with HoopsHype to discuss his post-playing career, Victor Wembanyama, LeBron James‘ legacy as a Laker and more.

How were the vibes in Paris?

Channing Frye: Vibes were great, energy was great. I mean, you have to look at Paris as one of the powerhouses when it comes to basketball in Europe, right? Or France in general. Look at the pedigree of people they’ve been putting in the NBA for years and those guys just, they play a good brand of basketball. That’s what’s fun. And so kids, doing clinics and things like that, the energy is here. People have certain teams that they like, it’s not just like, ‘Oh, we like the Cavs or the Nets’, it’s like ‘No, I watched the Boston Celtics every day’, or ‘I’ve been a Wizards fan since John Wall‘. They appreciate hoops like real good. They appreciate good basketball.

What do you think about French sensation Victor Wembanyama?

CF: I got the chance to watch Victor in person when he played the Lakers at home in San Antonio. That f*cking kid is… He makes me giddy to watch. I remember watching Tim Duncan and Shaq… Because I’ve never seen anything like that. Someone that young, that skilled, everything he does is amazing. It’s rare to see that, it’s like when LeBron [James] jumped basically from the dotted line the other night, or Chet [Holmgren] does like his moves. You’re like, ‘What kind of freaks are these guys playing basketball’… or Steph [Curry]. That’s the excitement that Victor brings.

He'll likely play at the Olympics... Do you think France can take the gold medal away from Team USA?

CF: No, I don’t think that’s possible at all. We were talking about who’s going to be on that Team USA roster next year, and I think what people aren’t taking into consideration is that this is going to be LeBron’s last year, KD’s last year, it might be Steph’s last year… So if you were talking guards, you would say Steph, Dame, Booker. Then you would maybe say like Paul George, Kawhi, LeBron, AD, Embiid... The size of that team… The only thing in our generation as comparable is a team that had like Jordan, Bird… This next year’s team from America might only have one young guy under 25 or 26, and that might be Anthony Edwards. Because then you take Tatum, Jaylen Brown… The team is going to be like 6-7 and above… It’s going to be a monster of a team.

Then depending on what happens with the Nuggets and with Nikola Jokic you have Serbia, Spain is going to be nasty, France is going to be nasty… I think it’s going to be one of the best Olympics when it comes to basketball almost ever. We have never seen that level of basketball being played. Even Greece has a chance, they have that monster down there with Giannis… So many international players have influenced basketball right now. I think France’s height is going to be amazing but I don’t know guard play, I think they’re a little young to compete with America.

Speaking of talent, there's always the debate between fans of the old-school game and this basketball being played in recent years with most teams having offensive ratings off the charts. What's your take?

CF: One thing we’re not taking into consideration is access to information. Back in the day, you had to have an American coach, fly to France, and then teach the French coaches their tricks of the trade, or NBA players come over there whether it’s Spain or Germany and then they show the coach like ‘These are things that we do over in America’. We are now two or three generations down where you’re looking like Mychal Thompson had Klay Thompson now Klay Thompson has kids. Now Klay Thompson has all of Mychal Thompson’s information and putting that into his kids, right? You look at Kenyon Martin and his kids. You look at Carlos Boozer and his kids, you look also at the ability to go to YouTube, and to be able to dissect certain players that relate to yourself, right? A lot of these guys are 6-7 to 6-9, can shoot, can dribble, are proficient defensively, and then if you look at today’s game, you can’t be a clunky center anymore. Our best centers are Embiid and Jokic, and those guys play three levels of basketball. So the reason why they can score is because No. 1, they’re given the option to score three levels. No. 2, they have the spacing. And No. 3, they’ve worked on all sets of skills, so they are not limited to like ‘Oh, stay on the right block’. Those days are over, everyone’s too good. You take the Clippers for example, and put the Clippers 10 years ago. This team would have been a complete superstar team, it would have been bigger than the Miami Heat. The players are so good, the information that they have is making them good. And they’re putting in the time.

The 2014-15 Warriors had the second-best offensive rating at 110.4, that's the sixth worst rating this season

CF: Those Warriors had two players who didn’t shoot the ball. You look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, and who’s not shooting the ball? Lu Dort,  actually Josh Giddey is their worst shooter and he’s still shooting decently, he gets to the rack. When he gets to the rack, he’s playing the quote-unquote center position. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the top scorers in the paint… How do you guard somebody like that? Coaching is better, players are better, players are growing up with more skills, they’re practicing more skills, and the NBA is trying to keep up. I think JJ Redick went on a rant on this, no rules the NBA has put in have benefitted the offensive player. Who do you go to guard Wemby or Chet? What position do you put on them? Who do you put on Anthony Davis? These guys are just that good.

Did you imagine your post-playing career would be as successful as it been so far?

CF: No. I’ve been busy, which is great. I think for me when I first started to work at Warner I just wanted to continue to be around basketball. But then what happens is that they start to become your teammates, and then you start to really discover things that make you happy. So even this year, I started calling games for the first time and I fell absolutely in love with it. Obviously, studio is great, being able to work at times with Charles [Barkley] and Kenny [Smith] and Shaq. But also being in that studio with Isiah Thomas and Steve Smith and Grant Hill. Like these are guys I grew up watching and heard about and looked up to and now I get the opportunity to talk basketball with them. I just want to continue to work hard and be around basketball. It’s been fun. It’s been awesome. And then the minute it feels like work I’ll just go back to being retired but it doesn’t feel like work.

The 'Road Trippin' podcast has now like 300 episodes. Congratulations.

CF: It has been a wild road obviously for us. We’ve evolved. The first year we were doing this on a plane with the Cavs and then a couple of years later Richard [Jefferson] is in Denver and I’m in Lakers, Allie [Clifton] is still in Cleveland. So we’re doing that and now Richard works for ESPN and Allie works for Spectrum and I work for NBA TV… So it’s been evolving and I think this year I’m excited. We’re gonna continue to evolve, continue to grow and kind of just dive into just storytelling because that’s really what it’s about, man. There’s some other podcasts that are great but for us it’s about our storytelling and then making sure that people continue to hear us and have fun listening.

I gotta say, I do miss your Snapchat clips with Richard…

CF: Ahhhh f*cking Richard. [Laughs]

Talking about Richard, if you had to replace him for another player as co-host in the podcast who would that be?

CF: Oh, that’s a great question. You know what? I would probably go with either Jamal Crawford, who’s great to work with him, or I go with Candace Parker. So two people that I get the opportunity to talk to, don’t mind arguing with me and calling me out when I’m lying. They’re extremely informed, they have a different view of basketball from what I do, and I love that they see it differently. Then we could all agree that good basketball is good basketball, but what that looks like may be different to different people.

Who's the GOAT NBA player turned podcaster?

CF: I think for basketball, I think is JJ Redick. No. 1, he’s dedicated to getting the storytelling of the guys. And then No. 2, he’s extremely analytical, which is rare, but he’s extremely intelligent and informed. And then No. 3, he’s not afraid to stand on a hill on certain opinions. So yeah, JJ right now… His podcast’s the best.

What's your take on the current Lakers just weeks ahead of the trade dealine?

CF: They need some shooters, good Lord! They can’t kick that thing in the ocean, that’s disgusting. I think they won the In-Season Tournament because of the pace of play and defensively they could lock in. So do I think the Lakers will be dangerous in the playoffs? Yeah, but how much are they going to have in the tank trying to stay alive is one thing, and then No. 2, I think Anthony Davis is having an absolutely ridiculously amazing year, I would say even better than LeBron, and it’s getting wasted. I think they’re still trying to figure out who they are. I think they need more movement, more cutters, more shooters. I just think you can’t play this game without spacing. So no spacing means you take tough shots and for them, they need some spacing. You can be good defensively, but ain’t nobody that good in this day and age to get over that bad shooting.

If LeBron left the Lakers this summer, how would you rate his time in Los Angeles?

CF: I think he made a great decision going to L.A. If he leaves, I’d rate him 8 out of 10. I can’t give him a 10 out of 10 because he only won once. So Bron individually, I’ll give them a 10 out of 10, but the Lakers, they only win championships, so he got one but then the other years he didn’t make the playoffs, or they got beat in the first round or whatever it is that happened. I also think you look at some of the rosters that he’s had and there’s only so much you could do with that, right? You can’t ask for Michelin-star meals with Costco ingredients at times. Sometimes it works, but he’s 39 years old, so for me, if he leaves that’s good, more power to him, but I think his time has been extremely successful. But in the end, you have to surround him with the right kind of players.

Story originally appeared on HoopsHype