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Ewing calls it a career
Sam Smith
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
So how good was Patrick Ewing?
“He has my vote as the greatest Knick ever,” said Willis Reed, the center on the only two New York Knicks championship teams. “Unfortunately he had some of his greatest years when he didn't have a whole lot around him.”
So just how will Ewing be remembered? For never winning an NBA championship? Or for reviving a moribund Knicks' team in the mid-1980s?
“I'm disappointed I never won a championship in the pros,” Ewing, 40, said Tuesday at a New York news conference where several former teammates and coaches flanked him as he announced his retirement from the NBA after 17 years. “We did the best we could to help the franchise win one. It didn't happen. That's life. You have to move on. It was a great ride. I'm at peace.”
Ewing will join the coaching staff of the Washington Wizards for whom he could help coach Michael Jordan, the man most responsible for denying Ewing a title as he led the Bulls to six titles in Ewing's prime. Ewing did get to the NBA Finals in 1994, but Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets defeated the Knicks in an excruciating seven-game series.
So what will be the legacy of this dignified, complex man who experienced more disappointments than perhaps any great player in NBA history. Winning titles cannot be the only mark of great players. Karl Malone isn't likely to get one. Likewise his teammate John Stockton, who will be regarded as one of the best pure point guards. Charles Barkley, who is headed to the Hall of Fame, is an all-time great.
But with Ewing so much was expected that no matter what he delivered, it never was enough. Ewing, who is the all-time franchise leader in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks, an 11-time All Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arguably the least popular “best player in franchise history.” He was booed frequently in New York, once showered with debris on a giveaway night and traded away to finish his career with a season in Seattle and another in Orlando.
Although several former Knicks, such onetime President Dave Checketts and ex-coach Jeff Van Gundy, and current coach Don Chaney, were at his news conference, it was organized by Ewing, not the Knicks.
Also attending was another former Georgetown center, Alonzo Mourning, who may be forced to retire after a recurrence of kidney disease. Not lost to those watching was the failure of all the great Georgetown big men, including Dikembe Mutombo, to win NBA titles. Ewing, however, did lead Georgetown to three NCAA tournament final games and one title.
A feared defensive force in college, the 7-foot No. 1 overall pick in the 1985 draft was regarded as a future Bill Russell. Instead he seemed patterned after Jack Sikma. Ewing preferred the jump shot and never became the dominant rebounder and shot blocker many expected, averaging 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds in his career.
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, Ewing said, “As a hard hat, a hard nose. The work ethic I brought, I gave it 110 percent. I thought I had a great career. I have no regrets. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I enjoyed every minute.”
But enjoyment came hard. He had more than six knee surgeries, including in his rookie year. After he broke his wrist in 1997, he never regained his All-Star form. Yet Ewing prided himself on never giving in, never asking out and always working hard.
Friends and teammates liked Ewing and described him as a cutup and entertainer. But he never shared that side with the media or public, perhaps overly influenced by coach John Thompson's media disdain at Georgetown. Perhaps a title for the demanding New York fans would have softened them toward Ewing and he toward them. But there were only close calls, and what were described as Ewing failures. He frequently was lampooned for his optimism in the face of big obstacles.
His numbers, in many respects, don't overshadow those of Walt Bellamy, Nate Thurmond, Artis Gilmore and Bob Lanier. He wasn't an NBA champion or MVP. But he was one of the elite players in the greatest era in NBA history, and there's nothing to be ashamed about that.
“Whatever the reasons are that athletes are not embraced,” Checketts said, “Patrick Ewing will be one of the greatest players to ever play in the NBA and certainly one of the best to play for the Knicks.”
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