Childress looked like the same old player in Phoenix as he did in Atlanta to me.
He just never was up to much. Childress was a garbage man wing player. A player who couldn't shoot, couldn't create his own shot and was a sub-par defender. The only things he did was rebound and score baskets around the rim. Garbage man.
Childress was a valuable rotation player in his Atlanta days, though. He was a decent rebounder, and a very efficient finisher (three straight years averaging 10+ points and 50%+ shooting; 12 points and 57% shooting his last year in Atlanta).
He wasn't a huge impact player, but he's a guy who could fill a role.
Childress wasn't valuable. He just put up good numbers.
Childress was never the type of player a quality team would (or at least should) pursue as a part of their regular rotation. Too limited a basketball player. He was always destined to be one of those guys that put up good numbers on bad to mediocre teams but couldn't hack it on a top notch basketball team.
His skill-set was just too limited. When you are a wing who can't shoot, can't create your own offense and are a dodgy defender ... it's very hard to positively impact games at the highest level.
That has always been Childress' problem and it still is.