Suns notebook: Frye's coaching, Nash's future

In addition to the big brains on their basketball staff, the Phoenix Suns have the benefit of entering this lockout-inflicted season with a coach on the floor. And it's not Steve Nash. Well, it sort of is, but not literally. For the record, I also wasn't referring to Grant Hill or some cockeyed notion of Dan Majerle coming out of retirement to bomb a few 3s in the fourth quarter. Give up? OK, the Suns player checking in with actual (if minimal) coaching chops is ... Channing Frye. "Channing Frye? Definitely not." That dissenting opinion was supplied by teammate Jared Dudley, who doesn't believe the Suns' power forward has NBA coaching in his future. "There's no chance," Dudley, tongue planted convincingly in cheek (I think), said. "He'd have to have a super hook-up. I'd have to be a head coach and I'd have to bring him along." But would he? "No, definitely not," Dudley said regarding the prospect of hiring Frye. That's fine, because NBA coaching doesn't interest Frye. He also has no desire to coach in college. "That way, I really don't have to deal with recruiting and telling a kid he's the greatest," Frye said, "and when he gets there tell him he sucks." The eventual career option that interests Frye is coaching high school basketball, something he did during the lockout as a varsity assistant at Lake Oswego High in Oregon. While most of his players-union brothers were searching for employment in paying leagues around the world, the former St. Mary's High and University of Arizona star was teaching the game to high school kids. "I gotta stay involved in basketball," he said. "You know, I wanted to see if I liked it or not. I keep tellin' the wife that's what I want to do when I'm done playing. She's like 'why don't you go find a school?'." So Frye, a former Portland Trail Blazer who lives in Oregon during the off-season, inquired about possible coaching positions with five of the top high school programs in his area. The first to respond was Lake Oswego, alma mater to Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Love and former Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire. By the way, LO's sports teams are known as the Lakers, which had to chafe a little. Although Frye had to return to his primary job before their season began, the experience left quite an impression. "I love it," he said of coaching. "It makes me love basketball even more." And it doesn't hurt his mental approach as an NBA player. "I think I pay attention a lot better now," Frye admits. "I think I'm learning a lot better now. This (NBA) is moving a lot faster than high school. Everything here is just kind of on an individual basis and the way all of the coaches teach is something that I can learn and just try to adapt to and store in my coaching file for a long time." A committed participant in the Suns' up-tempo style of play, Frye will keep his strategic options open when he lands a position as a high school head coach. "I'm going to mix it up," he said, "depending on the strengths and weaknesses of my players. But we will shoot a lot of 3s." BEFORE THOSE RUMORS ARE RENEWED... Lon Babby, the Suns' president of basketball operations, still wants NBA watchdogs to know keeping Nash in Phoenix remains a priority. The franchise's strident pledge to maintain that particular status quo seems to explain how the two-time MVP can enter the final season on his current contract without the will-he-or-won't he circus accompanying the contract-expiration watch of other league celebrities. It also doesn't hurt that Nash has yet to issue any public hints of seeking happiness elsewhere. "We want him to retire as a Phoenix Sun and go into the Ring of Honor and into the Hall of Fame in our jersey and I think he knows that," Babby, who wasn't referring to wanting the point guard retire anytime soon, said. "I've told him that. "He's going to have to assess whether he wants that." Nash, as expected, is focused on steering the Suns back to familiar territory. "I'm not really thinking about it," Nash said. "I'm just trying to make this team into a playoff team. At this stage of my career, I'm not thinking about tomorrow, I'm thinking about today." But Suns fans -- not to mention national NBA scribes -- will be considering Nash's immediate future soon enough. "As time goes on, I think we'll have more discussions about that," Babby, who intends to prevent an avalanche of rumor to crowd the situation, said. "Every indication from training camp is that he's fully invested and excited to be here and ready to lead this team." Unfortunately, the well-wishing, trade-speculating fourth estate may not be satisfied with that. "I think they underestimate from our standpoint how good of a player he still is," Babby said of well-meaning, trade-rumor mongers, "and how important he is to this organization ... on and off the court." ALMOST ROCKIN' AGAIN With much of the Suns' upgrade potential attached to free-agent guard Shannon Brown and rookie power forward Markieff Morris, a familiar face (and hairdo) quietly is emerging as a potential factor. When asked to identify variables from training camp that would suggest improvement, Dudley didn't hesitate. "Robin Lopez is better than he was last year," Dudley said of the 7-footer whose third season was defined by health issues that prevented a rewind of the promising performance from late in his second. "That's evident in that he's got more spring, he's more aggressive and that's going to help us because you never can have too many good bigs."