Ewing: Leaving Knicks Was a Mistake

The press and Knicks fans are to blame for Patricks surly demeanor.From the first second he got here,new york sports fans,who for some bizzare reason are labled”the most inellegent sports fans in America” thought that Ewing and Ewing alone would turn the KNICKS around and they would not lose another game until after Patrick retired.Reading all of these post for the past 2 years,it looks as if its about to happen again.Basketball is a team game,and ONE MAN cannot change a team by himself.

I don’t even like to be reminded of all this. Damn, that was the death of this franchise. We followed that up by doing the same thing over and over again..Trading expiring overpaid veterans for even worse long-term contracts because “You can’t rebuild in NY”. Every team has to go through a rebuilding phase at 1 point or actually at several points. It happens to every great team inevitably..Superstars on max contracts get old and their skills decline. Rebuild right when that happens.

Two words : Bad karma.

Thank you!!! I always felt sorry for Patrick. He was brutally disrespected. Patrick had warriors that played with him, but the closest thing we had to a go-to guy after him was Starks. No one player ensures a championship. Jordan would have been Jordan without Pippin, but he wouldn’t have won without him… as proven by the fact that he didn’t win without him. Whoever we get will need help from his team mates, and the rest of the NBA still won’t roll over and let what’s on paper guarantee the championship. A few years ago the Giant’s won with rookies and unproven players, last year they were barely average with a bunch of proven, high paid vets.

Yeah I remember I was in San Antonio Texas like it was yesterday watching the day we won the lottery and how me and my friend were screaming and yelling very happy and how the next door suitemate was banging on the wall telling us to be quiet we were like “SHUT UP WE GOT EWING!!!”

I saw a docmentary of Greg Oden, when most of the legendary “Centers” were talking to Oden and Bill Walton clearly said Ewing nevr got the help and Pat said Im not going to say anything but Bill said I will for you, “you never got the help to win a championship.

If they woulld have kept Bernard King around its possible we could have won a championship in the Ewing era.
If the refs called the foul on the Charles Smith layup its possible we could have won a championship during the Ewing era.
If Pat puts Hubert Davis back in earlier in Game 7 after pulling him when he shot an airball its possible we could have won a championship in the Ewing era.
If PJ Brown doesnt throw Charlie Ward its possible we win a championship during the Ewing era.
If Pat dunks the ball instead of trying to lay it up vs Indy its possible we win a championship during the Ewing era.
If Pat is available vs the Spurs its possible we win a championship during the Ewing era.

I wish Pat would have embraced Camby like D Rob did Timmy but thats just Pat’s demeanor

Pat was proud and felt he could bring a championship to NY, so his bold statements were how he truly felt but the media would kill him for making them.

Pat was our warrior the like we havent seen since the championship years of Reed, Frazier, DeBusschere, Bradley, Monore, Barnett, Russell, Lucas etc.

Patrick just couldnt get over that hump that many NBA greats have ran into called Michael Jordan and a BAD shooting game by J Starks and poor decision-making on Riles part not to pull Starks

Oh yeah, If the Queen had onions she’d be the King

the thing about Ewing is he was sheltered from the media at Georgetown.

Then when he came to NYC he just wanted to stay ini his cocoon and not be bothered by the press. He warmed up a bit after a while but those first few years when he wasnt a quote machine hurt his relationship with the media.

I remember 1999 .. In the playoff run I was certain we were better off without Ewing.. and we WERE a better team with Camby at center. .. The offense was more up and down — full court with Camby in there… But Camby was always hurt.

Eqing would not (could not) accept a supporting role and wanted a contract extension when EVERYONE knew he had maybe a year or two left in his knees… In retrospect the best move would have been to coddle him and tell him he was still the man .. he would not have been able to play the minutes he use to and would have likely reinsured himself at some point.. His feet and knees were shot.. (never a good thing for a 7 footer)

so many bad moves in that era.. hard to pin the last ten years of dreck on just the ewing trade… it was recoverable but unnecessary..

Yup and today is no different then 10 years ago. Fans howling at the players and coaches. A cynical and arrogant media…the behavior won’t change because THAT is NY.

How many posts have there been excoriating Tommy for be a house boy to the Knicks franchise when he is basically a fair minded fan AND journalist who is merely giving his POV without the vitriol and certitude that some of you knuckleheads bring.

Ultimately its that sense of certitude with which people puke their opinions out thats is so infuriating. I dunno why anyone would want to come to play here lest they were from here this place is pretty damn brutal.

I dont remember there ever being a problem with the FANS and Ewing.. it was largely a media relations issue. Caused by Ewing’s lack of media training and being thrown into being the #1 overall pick in the largest market in the world…

If you remember he never had a major sneaker deal — (wore some custom branded kicks that were’nt even for sale IIRC) and did very little national endorsements.

The fans loved him from Day One. I can count on one hand the times he was booed.. He may have also had a problem with Garden management, the coaching carousel and the lack of a significant supporting caste but The Fans were never a problem for the big guy.

+ 1

there are a thousand IFS in sports..

You can drive yourself crazy with them. That’s why i laugh everytime i read that this “coach” would have won a chip if Donahey wasnt the ref for that game..

If Ifs and buts were candy and nuts it’d be christmas every day.

Only in 1995-96, around the time when he signed that final, $68M/4 year deal he was getting some flakk at the Garden. People were groaning that he never passed the ball and starting to wonder if the Knicks were better without him. But that was during the sh*tty Don Nelson season. The Knicks re-tooled the next year and everything was cool after that.

I don’t think there’s any way that the Ewing era could have possibly ended well.

I feel that a big problem was the Spreewell trade itself. Not really sure if the Knicks got him because they wanted him that badly as much as because they wanted to keep him away from Pat Riley.

The Knicks had been set in its (offensive) ways for 14 years: feed the ball to Ewing in the post and see how it plays out. Now you all of a sudden you got Spree on the team, and he’s instantly the most talented/dynamic player on this team. And he had that intense/cocky/brash attitude too despite coming off the suspension.

With Ewing in and out of the lineup that year, the offense had to completely adjust to becoming a perimeter-attack centered around Spree, Houston & LJ. But Spree was a freelancing, helter-skelter, slashing guy…so the offense lost a lot of its structure. When Ewing did play, JVG showed enough loyalty to keep running the offense through him and he still put up good numbers but the offense wasn’t as fluid with him on the floor. And his stops in Seattle and Orlando showed that he was pretty useless if he wasn’t getting touches on every possession.

But how were you supposed to turn the guy who was the franchise career leader in almost every significant category that he had to become a 4th option? He pretty much had to go. And the trade demand shocked me, because I guess that you got so used to the Big Fella being a constant with the Knicks?

Yeah but in this case it just shows that Patrick Ewing didn’t have the luck most champions have in order to win a title. I’m not saying that Patrick Ewing was a champion because he was always one “if” away from winning a championship, but he wasn’t lucky enough to be one!

The fans loved him from Day One.

including the ones who tore up the posters and threw them on the floor on Ewing poster night?

Come on. He wasn’t treated well during his injury year.

but for the most part, yes, i agree he wasn’t ready for the “next bill russell” comparisons that no media person ever took ownership even even tho they all said it at the time.

hence the reason why bill simmons hates the Knicks and Ewing.

remember when the fans threw the posters back out onto the court in the garden?that was the fans

Right.

And as far as the Knicks being better with Camby. Not buying that either. LJ was at the 4 with KT off the bench who was good but not great. Camby and LJ made them small up front.

They were structurally flawed by the sprewell trade. LJ was a tweener.

To me I could have lived with Ewing staying, especially when he did step aside enough in my opinion. Ewing Camby, LJ, h20, Childs, Spree, KT, Ward

Talk about a team that played 8 players BTW.

that was ONE incident with the garden less than half full.. in the midst of a horrendous start to a season..

i concede that Ewing remembered that day for his whole career but on balance Ewing was revered in this town like VERY few athletes..

Even Mickey Mantle was booed in Yankee stadium– so i’ve read.

Simmons hates the knicks rightly because he was born and raised a Celtics fan in Boston during the height of a NY /Boston basketball rivalry.

plus he’s a rable rouser anyway

Was that the year we had Scott(former orlando magic) on the bench???

That year it looked like we had an all-star team.

I agree with everything you said man.

I man-up to being one of those fans that didn’t appreciate him as I should.

I hope that one day he comes back in some capacity to the arena he belongs.

you mean the LJ who we acquired the last time we had significant cap space?.. why bring him up given what we face in july?

But Im surprised such a strong D’Antoni supporter wouldnt recognize the stretch 4 aspect that LJ brought to the team. i was never a great fan of his game and that acquisition–thats a separate topic.

Camby and Ewing playing together was never a great mix — same as Ewing/Cartwright never worked.

The way they were playing n 99 with Camby/LJ/Spree was up and down run run run.. Ewing at that point was all about slow it down and give me the ball in the paint..

i would have liked to have kept ewing as well.. with Camby coming off the bench getting equal or more minutes.. but ewing’s pride and ego wouldnt have that–hence the trade demand… Camby was a beast on the boards on on defense.. and was a good pairing with the softer/LJ/Spree.. but they all played defense..

But I agree part of the problem was a lack of bench usage.. but it was a 50 some game season with the lock out

lol. Leave it to the immortal genius Mike Brown to draw up that play to seemingly get the ball in Varejeo’s hands, his worst free throw shooter who shouldn’t even have been on the floor to begin with. Lets see if it ends up costing them the game.

And it does cost them the game!! He never ceases to amaze. They were also out of time outs which doubly screwed them. God Bless Mike Brown…The NY Knicks best recruiting tool for Lebron.

Lol. If only the Knicks had a good coach themselves . . . . . . . . .

Don’t be too hard on yourself about not appreciating Ewing. He brought a lot of this on himself. Great, now he wishes he had treated things differently. What does that mean? Any one of us can lament certain decisions we made 10 years ago.

Ewing often acted as if he was too important to be bothered with the fans. His pomposity towards the media throughout his career didn’t help matters. I was done with the guy when he became union president and whined during the 98′ lockout about how difficult the NBA owners were making it for the players and their “families” (which happened to be the same nonsense spewed by Sprewell years later). Ewing never would have accepted a supporting role with the Knicks, and the fact that they dealt him in the manner that they did shows how dificult he had become to deal with.

Ewing was a super ballplayer (arguably great) who always came up short (at least in the NBA). That will always be his legacy. I wish him well with whatever he does, but I was never a huge fan.

was a terrific (arguably great) player who just never did enough. He

damn the lakers loss too so now it makes lebron feel a lil better……smh

the Knicks,from the very beggining should have started surrounding ewing with talent,but they went the first 6 or 7 years with nobody and when they finally had a little room they signed Houston and Childs,not exactly All-Stars at the time,and Smith was supposed to be the final straw but he really wasnt that good.The Knicks did better with D-league type guys like Starks and Mason.The Jackasses who ran the Knicks back then shoulda been shot for not winning a ring with Patrick.Everytime they got a decent point guard (Jackson,Strickland etc.)they traded them away.God it was so great back then to be a KNICKS fan,but also a lot of heartache.But id rather take the heartache then to be such losers like they are now

Breaking news:

This just into the sports newsroom……

Donnie Walsh makes NFL pick for the New York Giants. Reese said he just did not know who to pick and what to do so he let Donnie Walsh select the Giants first round pick.

Everybody congratulated each other on the perfect pick, a freakish athletic defensive end who has limited football knowledge. One picture taken even shows him holding the football tip with his thumb instead of his index finger.

High fives for everybody!!!!!!!

Walsh said it worked so well he’s going to have Giant GM Jerry Reese pick the Knicks 2 second round picks for him. Now he can take a full nap during the NBA draft and not be woken since the Knicks do not have a #1 pick this year.

Was it Camby or was it Sprewell that made the Knicks a better team?

Camby is a terrific defensive player – with ZERO post up moves. Spree caused havoc on both ends.

I would say it was worse for Jackie Robinson. Much much much worse.

One word: DOLAN

Simmons hates the Knicks because outside of the 5 boroughs, parts of Westchester and LI everyone hates NY teams. Except for the Yankees cause they have cool caps and Derek Jeter.

David Wright is feeling the NY luv right now.

“there are a thousand IFS in sports..

You can drive yourself crazy with them. That’s why i laugh everytime i read that this “coach” would have won a chip if Donahey wasnt the ref for that game.. ”

Kinda like how you were speculating about how many more wins the Knicks would have IF D’antoni didn’t bench Nate? Or IF D’antoni chose to foul when up by 3? Or IF D’antoni gave Darko minutes?

Yeah man, those if’s will drive you crazy…

we shoulda and coulda beat the fucking HOUSTON ROCKETS in 94

be careful about going over the top with “supporter” stuff…my stance has been clear.

I like “stretch 4″ by the way. LJ wasn’t my issue. And the spree trade made them structurally flawed, which is why he came off the bench. You said the team played better with Camby than with Ewing. I disagree. It allowed them to change up and compete in the half court in the 4th quarter. Same with the defense. They brought in two way players which again is the hope.

I’m surprised by your idea that the run, run, run style is so effective when you hate D’Antoni.

Again, two way players is what we’re all looking for.

Agreed. The team Riley had his first year was the team that, I feel, had the best chance to beat the Bulls and win it all if they would have stayed together. The biggest mistake Riley made was underestimating Mark Jackson and Xavier McDaniel. He disliked Jackson and had him traded for Mr. Softie, Charles Smith and they didn’t resign X-Man, who was a free agent. X-Man eventually signed with Boston.

The Knicks management made so many big mistakes. I know they could’ve had Kareem when he left Milwaukee and there’s a story going around that the Nets offered Dr. J. to the Knicks first when they were coming into the NBA in ’76 because they had to pay them “territory” money and the Knicks turned them down. The Nets then sold the Doctor to Philly. Could you freaking imagine that–Kareem and Doctor J. playing together on the Knicks?

As someone said in a previous post. The Knicks have horrific Karma.

[...] TheKnicksBlog.com – Ewing: Leaving Knicks Was a Mistake [...]