Contemporary fans tend to slight Patrick Ewing within the context of NBA history. While it’s true he was always finishing on the All-NBA 2nd Team behind his rivals, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson, he deserves better from the pundits who deride his career as unrealized potential. As Ewing turns 51 today, it’s worth looking at his 17-year career, which is a study in consistent—and sometimes dominating—production.
Ewing might not have brought the Larry O’Brien trophy to Madison Square Garden after being selected No. 1 overall in the 1985 Draft, but he did produce enough to be selected one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1996 and to be enshrined as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Yet, why does it always feel his pro career was somehow less than it could have been?
When Ewing came out of the John Thompson factory in the District of Columbia, many just assumed he’d lead the Knicks to the NBA title right away. That didn’t happen, but he did win Rookie of the Year, average greater than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game for nine-straight years while making 11 All-Star Teams (including 10-straight), 6 All-NBA 2nd Teams, 1 All-NBA 1st Team, 2 All-Defensive 2nd Teams and 2 gold medals (in 1984 and with the real Dream Team in 1992) while leading the Knicks to the playoffs for 12-straight seasons.
The problem for Patrick—as it was for many in the 80’s and 90’s—was Michael Jordan, and the aforementioned Olajuwon. Olajuwon won two-straight titles when MJ retired, and one of those was Patrick’s for the taking. But John Starks went 2-for-18 during the pivotal game 7 against the Dream’s Rockets in 1994, and so history has relegated Patrick to the second tier of centers in NBA folklore.
He wasn’t as cut as The Admiral, and he wasn’t as light on his feet or as equipped with an inexhaustible array of low-post moves like Dream, but he was a steady rebounder, shot-blocker and scorer back when doing all three wasn’t totally unheard of for an NBA center. And it’s worth remembering that Ewing wasn’t going against the likes of Brook Lopez back then, either. The game was more center-dominated, so opposing defenses were keyed to stop Ewing any time the Knicks were playing, and the centers he matched up against were some of the greatest the league has produced.
In fact, with the hand-checking rules yet to be implemented, most of those great Knicks teams of the 1990s ran their offense through the big Jamaican-American, and he never really had a Scottie Pippen sidekick to ease some of his load. It’s worth noting here that Ewing’s best teammate during his prime years was John Starks. Starks is a great underdog story, sure, but it says something that Ewing’s greatest teammate during his title-window after Jordan retired was bagging groceries a few months before earning a roster spot.
Patrick shouldered a huge portion of the responsibility on the NBA’s media-centric team over more than a decade, and aside from tiny blips of infamy, he did so with class and hard work that New Yorkers could appreciate. Nowadays, a player as titanic as Ewing might force a trade to a super team that could contend for a title, but back then superstars didn’t demand trades, usually. They just worked harder every summer. So that’s what Patrick did.
Keep reading to see why we shouldn’t overlook Ewing in a discussion of all-time great centers.
Ewing’s consistency doesn’t matter during today’s NBA discussions where rings are all the rage. Because the “Beast of the East” wasn’t able to ever clinch a title, he’s thought of as a failure. It’s not really fair—just like it isn’t fair when people criticize Karl Malone or Charles Barkley for failing to win a title. Ewing didn’t just rely on his God-given height and athleticism; he worked hard every off-season and came ready to play every night even while the New York tabloids castigated every heartbreaking loss, or shot that didn’t fall.
Ewing finished fourth in MVP voting three times over his career and he had some monster seasons that have been forgotten as we ooh and aah over some of his luminaries, like Olajuwon. If you look at a comparison of both players through their first 12 years in the league, it’s pretty close. Olajuwon averaged more in just about every statistical category, but it’s not an overwhelming victory, and as Shaquille O’Neal noted for us earlier this summer, some believe Olajuwon is the greatest center of all time. During that same Q & A, Shaq also credited Ewing with showing him the jump hook could be an effective go-to move for a center.
So Ewing just happened to play during an era that produced one of the greatest centers of all time AND the GOAT. A certain generation remembers the epic early 90’s playoff battles that Ewing’s Knicks waged against Jordan’s Bulls. While MJ had Scottie, Horace Grant and later, Dennis Rodman —as well as the clutch shooting of John Paxson and Steve Kerr—to help during his quest for title(s), Ewing had Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Derek Harper and John Starks. While those players were fun, and tough, and Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy were championship-level coaches, it wasn’t as much as MJ had with his Bulls.
The Hoya Destroya might have had more team success under John Thompson at Georgetown, but his Knicks teams were consistently at the top of the Eastern Conference standings during his prime. If it weren’t for the all-time players like Olajuwon and Jordan, Ewing would probably have at least one ring, if not more.
Perhaps the real problem with the sometimes-lamentable view of Ewing’s pro career stems from how dominant he was in the Big East during his college days. He’s the reason the NBA has a Draft Lottery; so many teams were thought to be tanking for a chance to nab him as the No. 1 pick in 1985, the NBA was forced to institute the lottery system that remains today. That should give you an idea of the publicity that surrounded Patrick’s introduction to the professional ranks. That same media spotlight was augmented when the Knicks were awarded the first pick amid a smattering of conspiracy talk since the then-new commissioner, David Stern, was a lifelong New Yorker in love with the Knicks.
For a player to be as hyped as Patrick was coming out of college, and to be handed to a market—New York—that has ruined many and mortally wounded even more, it’s a wonder that Ewing survived for so long relatively intact. These days he’s an assistant coach (currently with MJ’s Bobcats Hornets) who can be gregarious when asked to appear on camera even as he recounts some of the lower moments of his career. And he doesn’t make excuses for his lack of a title. Patrick Ewing is one of the greatest players in NBA history. We think it’s about time to start acknowledging that fact a little more.
Why not start today, when he turns 51.
What are some of your favorite Patrick Ewing memories?
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