"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

The most obvious difference in this year’s team is the subtraction of Shaquille O’Neal and addition of Channing Frye. After two years in New York and two relatively disappointing seasons in Portland, Frye is having one of the best years of his young career, certainly benefiting from having a point guard of Nash’s stature. His skills are a great addition to an already incredibly potent offensive team and the smoothness of the transition was surprising to some, including his teammates.

“When Channing signed the contract in Phoenix, I didn’t know he could shoot like he shot,” says Barbosa. “Many guys told me that he really could shoot and I didn’t believe them, so when I got to Phoenix and saw his playing of five-on-five before training camp, I was really happy. I knew that he was going to help us really well and he does a great job on the team. He’s always in the right place to get his shot and he spaces out a lot of the floor, so that makes it easy for everybody. He’s been a factor of our team and we’re happy to have him here.”