Category Archives: Patrick Ewing
“I hope that one day I get to come back home because I do live in this area, I still consider this my area, I still consider myself a Knick. Hopefully one day I’ll be brought back here,” Ewing, the Knicks’ career scoring leader, said in response to a question from Lupica.
When asked about the lack of big men as head coaches in the NBA, Ewing said: “If you look at most of the guys who have gotten the jobs, most of them have been guards. Very few big guys have gotten the opportunity.”
Now I have to be fair here. No one is a bigger fan or defends the big fella as much as yours truly. That said, I talked to several people familiar with Ewing’s situation in Orlando and there are questions about his preparation during practices and a lot of that talk is the reasoning behind him not getting head coaching interviews from what I understand.
For him to come home casts a huge shadow on the team. This is Amar’e's franchise. It’s Melo’s franchise.
Nostalgia is great and it allows you to remember the past, but sometimes things are better left there.
On the other hand, Ewing has played on a million great defensive teams and coached many as well. Negatives aside, if he were any other coach he’d be a prime candidate for D’Antoni’s bench. Should he be either way?
Tagged Patrick ewing wants to come to knicks |Where were you on March 6, 1996?
Patrick Ewing grabs nine rebounds in 89-82 win at Toronto, passing Willis Reed (8,414) for first place on the Knicks all-time rebounding list.
So I was just watching some video on ESPN as they took a look into the Duke program. Coach K tells his players that 90% of their screens are non-existent because of a lack of contact on the defender. This is essential for off the ball screens, but also is a key factor to on ball screens as well.
The Knicks were one of the first teams to implement the “pick and slip” when they would show Patrick Ewing far from the basket only to have him wait for the on-ball defender to go on the high side and Ewing would “slip” to the basket usually for an uncontested dunk.It would work because the “hedging” defender would be stuck between hedging and staying with Ewing. The Knicks would isolate that side of the floor in a two man game.
In this video, in plays #7 and #1 exhibit the pick and slip. What the Knicks do a great job in the half court of not isolating the floor in a two-man game, they run it from top of key. They bring the corner offensive player from the corner to above foul line extended so that if the weak side defender helps, the kick out is wide open. More ground to have to cover in order to “close out.” It creates more half court space, which as we know is so key. Fields has made that shot, but it’s meant for Gallinari and Chandler. If the make that shot, they are impossible to defend offensively.
But what I’ve noticed a lot, and I can’t find video on it so I’ll try to explain, is that Felton or Douglas never run their man off the screen, which has caused a stall in the Pick and Roll. Watch for that tonight. Amar’e needs to set better screens in order to free himself. Mozgov has been limited in making contact because they always call a foul on him. The guy who’s been the best at it thus far has been Turiaf.
Getting the ball to Amar’e closer to the basket in transition and in the pick and roll also needs to be a priority.
Mike Vaccaro in my opinion, and his piece today is another great read…
“…3. What if the Knicks hadn’t traded Patrick Ewing?
It seemed as if there was a Higher Authority at work. The Knicks initially arranged a four-team trade in August 2000, but when it fell through, Jeff Van Gundy visited Ewing to persuade him to stay. Ewing believed New York had turned on him. The Knicks were under no obligation to deal Ewing, but a few weeks later they did anyway in a complex deal that also involved the Lakers, Suns and Sonics.
So: a) If the Knicks don’t trade Ewing, they have him for the 2000-01 season, a year they won 48 games without him. With him? Do they likely beat the Raptors in the playoffs? They had the year before. And you have to believe they would have had a chance at knocking off the Sixers in the next round. And then . . . well, who knows? b) At the least, Ewing’s $16 million would have fallen off the cap and c) The never-ending spiral of bad players and bad contracts might have been broken before it ever started with the likes of Glen Rice and Luc Longley. And d) maybe Van Gundy doesn’t resign the next season, and e) maybe Isiah Thomas remains a harmless character we only know from a distance, and f) maybe the Knicks never bottom out as completely as they did…”
He also talks about Belichick and the freak Duaner Sanchez injuries and their proverbial “what ifs.” As a Mets fan, there is no doubt in my mind that the Mets would have won the World Series had Sanchez stayed healthy. As far as Ewing, it’s been documented in this space, that the way he was handled was the beginning of the organization’s crumbling for the last decade.
While we’re reading the Post, Peter Vecsey gets on Mike D’Antoni for not keeping Rajon Rondo after he was drafted in Phoenix. More fodder for the anti-D’Ant-ites. Oh, and D’Antoni is the reason for Boston’s push to the Finals. Not Paul Pierce or the Celts defense, it’s more Nate Robinson.
Gotcha.
Vecsey fails to mention that Rondo could have been a Knick but Isiah Thomas chose Balkman a spot before. Oh, and the player that the Suns took in 2007? Rudy Fernandez, whom the Suns got a boat load of cash for (they’re small market) from the Blazers. They also got cash for Rondo. That cash was used to resign several key pieces including Steve Nash, who plays Rondo’s position. Small market teams with solid cores give up mid-to-late first round picks in exchange for cash all the time and Rondo couldn’t shoot a lick coming out of college. Of course, the Knicks are hoping to jump into the 1st round in June’s draft.
But it’s NY so it must be D’Antoni’s fault.
“…If I had it to do all over again,” said Ewing. “I wouldn’t have requested a trade.”
Who knew that a simple yet firm demand, made in 2000, would still be haunting the Knicks today? The franchise brass certainly didn’t. Neither did Ewing, who today serves as an assistant to Stan Van Gundy on the Orlando Magic bench. Speaking before Game 1 of the Magic-Charlotte Bobcats series, Ewing made it clear he still feels bad about leaving New York. In retrospect, the trade of Patrick Ewing caused the same impact as the drafting of Patrick Ewing. Just as the Knicks saw their fortunes soar when former general manager Dave DeBusschere pounded his fist at the draft lottery on the pivotal day that enabled the Knicks to get Ewing, his trade subsequently prompted plenty more clenched fists pounded for altogether different reasons…
In order to trade Ewing, the Knicks had to take Luc Longley and Glen Rice and other lumps of coal; nobody was giving them expiring contracts or talented players for someone who eventually reminded folks of Willie Mays in his final days with the Mets. The Knicks, charging $1,000 for those courtside seats, were in mortal fear of rebuilding in New York, as if their fans wouldn’t understand the reasons for it.
So they swung the deal and spent the next 10 years rebuilding…”
There are many different angles to this story depending on who you talk to. It is true, as mentioned in this very article, that Ewing felt disrespected by the NY media who almost seemed to wait to hammer him for years of being surly towards them. Some writers suggested the FANS thought the Knicks were better off without Ewing.
In December of 99, Ewing hit a big shot against the Raptors that took the Knicks to 17-10 and 6-1 in his return from injury. But I guess they were better without him. No one can question the decline, but the burial was far too soon.
Throw in the Mark Messier factor as well. The Rangers felt that Messier had gone past his prime and decided not to negotiate all that hard with Mess and his father Doug. That led to the infamous Joe Sakic contract signing, which was matched by the Avalanche. Messier would return for big money, and around the same time, Ewing wouldn’t be given an extension. Many had speculated it was the Garden brass’ decision to make amends with Messier because he had won a championship.
One more year. Really, just one more year. That’s all it would have been.
It didn’t take long for fans to realize that even an aging Ewing still made the Knicks a playoff team.
Forget the cap ramifications, that whole situation really left me bitter, considering all that Ewing did in a Knicks jersey. Whether the team was better without him or not. They would have been better with him against the Spurs in the 1999 Finals, that much was obvious.
I know Ewing has to take his share of blame, and reading this makes me feel a bit better. He knows he should have handled things differently. But his emotions, built up by years of coming so close followed by having to hear that he was done and the team should move on without him, I can, always did, understand his frustration.
It’s been a long time ladies and gents, here’s hoping for a successful new beginning.
Great post by aramnath, from frontofficefans.com on the similarities between the careers of 
Patrick Ewing and Donavan McNabb who, despite 5 NFC Championship appearances and 1 Super Bowl, never won a championship in Philly. He’s now a member of the Washington Redskins.
“…You’re probably wondering how Patrick Ewing is similar to Donovan McNabb. Let’s take a look.
The Knicks drafted Patrick Ewing with the No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. By the early 90′s, the Knicks were one of the league’s elite teams that had the misfortune of peaking at the same time that Michael Jordan and the Bulls also peaked. Upon Jordan’s retirement at the end of the 1993 NBA season, the Knicks became the favorite to emerge out of the Eastern Conference and emerge they did earning a birth in the 1994 NBA Finals against Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets.
Thanks to a combination of Hakeem Olajuwon being a better center than Ewing and Pat Riley allowing John Starks to shoot 2-18 from the field, 0-11 from three and 0-10 in the fourth quarter, Ewing came up short in his championship quest. Did Olajuwon outplay Ewing? Yes. This is because he was a superior player not because Ewing wasn’t clutch.
The next season the Knicks were thwarted in their attempt to win a ring by Reggie Miller and the Pacers as Ewing’s game-tying layup attempt rimmed out as time expired in Game 7. This is remembered as proof as why Ewing sucked as a clutch player and why the Knicks never won a ring…”
Ewing’s issue was that he couldn’t seal the deal and talked a big game. He wanted that pressure, but couldn’t ultimately deliver. It’s a fair knock. McNabb, to me, is a great quarterback who ran into better teams. That’s the biggest similarity for me. Ewing was a first overall pick big man who had impossible expectations to live up to. Ask Greg Oden what that feels like.
David Robinson needed Tim Duncan. Shaq finally realized he needed Kobe because of free throw woes limiting his touches in the 4th quarter. Dream was the best center of all of them in my opinion- and Ewing was just one game away. In the end, despite a tremendous career, he just didn’t get it done. I think his year was 1997, myself.
I’m reading Marc Berman’s report that the Knicks will not “honor” Nate Robinson 
upon his return to MSG on April 6th with his new team the Celtics.
Didn’t they “honor” him by trading him there?
Video tributes are like retired jerseys, if you retire one, you’re going to get arguments why you don’t retire more.
What did Nate really do to deserve a moment that is most always reserved for greats? Yes, he played hard, yes the fans identified with him and throw in the dunk titles he was a player who could be identified as a Knick.
Call me old fashioned but I think of a weepy Mark Messier returning to the Garden with the Canucks, or Ewing coming back for the first time as a member of the Sonics.
Nate captured many fans’ hearts and admiration, but tributes are deserved of those who were accomplished on the court. And in that sense, Nate was far from great.
Help me out here. Did John Starks get a tribute, I honestly don’t remember. Some fans have said yes, some no. Oakley got one, at halftime, so did Charlie Ward, two battle-tested core members of winning teams.
I doubt Chris Childs got one, and he was far more accomplished as a Knick than Nate.
To be fair, Tony Rice Balls informed me that Jamal Crawford got a highlight reel during a time out, but players like Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas and Latrell Sprewell did not. Maybe the organization should move forward and by doing them for everyone from now on as a classy gesture. It could go a long way in rebuilding the image of the organization.
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Later today, the Knicks will take on the Pistons in their annual Martin Luther King day game. Since the first one in 1986, there 
have been a handful of memories both good and bad.
The most significant one is the 1990 game which led to a rule known as the Trent Tucker rule. That was when Tucker hit a three-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining. It was the first year the NBA employed tenths of a second in the game clock and eventually required there to be at least three-tenths of a second remaining before such a shot can be hit. The only time a game-winner occurred with under three-tenths of a second left was December 2006 when David Lee deflected his own inbounds pass.
Thanks to the archives of the NY Times, we can relive that with Tucker’s comments:
‘It’s the greatest shot I ever made,” Tucker said. ”I just caught the ball and flung it. When the ball left my hands, I knew it was on target. What I didn’t know was whether it had the distance. When it went in, I thought to myself, ‘not bad for a guy who was supposed to be a decoy on the play.’ ”
Three years later, the schedule-makers rewarded us diehards with a potential NBA finals matchup when the revamped Phoenix Suns visited. I was in the stands for that game, a 106-103 Knick win. The most memorable moment was afterwards when Charles Barkley chased after referee Jim Clark over a non-call. I didn’t recall it now, but apparently the incident was escalated when Clark told Barkley that his outburst would cost him money.
“When he said the part to me about money, I went off. Like he can control me with money. You can’t control people with money. I thought he made bad calls all night, but when he said that thing about, ‘It’s going to cost you money,’ like money can control me? Give me a break.”
The call or non-call that ticked off Barkley was on the final play. Needing a three to tie, Anthony Mason tightly contested the shot, which was an airball.
Other games have been routine wins or losses, including a 16-point win over the Celtics in 1998 that was the Knicks 21st consecutive win in the series. Two years later represented Patrick Ewing’s final appearance on this day as a Knick. He scored14 points in 29 minutes in a 105-94 victory over the Pistons. At that time, Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse represented one the NBA’s higher-scoring tandems but they were a combined 10-of-35 from the field.
And the last time the Knicks had a winning record on this day was 2001 against the Spurs. It was a blowout win that became memorable when Jeff Van Gundy was clocked by Marcus Camby, who intended to punch Danny Ferry.
Since then, the Knicks have been a losing team in their long struggle to try and reclaim what they once knew. They’ve had a few good games on this day (07 vs. Sacramento), one heart-breaker (Ben Gordon in 2005 for the Bulls) and one complete embarrassment (02 vs. the Hornets).
Tagged Martin Luther King Jr Day, Trent Tucker |So my friend BB from Brooklyn sent me this little ditty from deadspin because he knows how irritated The Celt’s, er, Sports Guy’s take on Ewing
makes me. In a nutshell, Celt’s Guy himself was always was REALLY PISSED that Ewing was mentioned in the same breath (OH THE HORROR) as Bill Russell when he came out of college by the basketball media. Yeah, those comparisons stopped after Ewing became his own brand.
Obviously, he must have really hated when Ewing hit the three from the corner against the Celtics on the parquet floor back in 1990, or any other moment pre-millennium where NY had Boston’s numbah. Maybe he felt the need to make New England-ers feel better after coming thisclose to NFL history by renaming The Ewing theory after Tiki Barber.
Very cute. As cute as Brady getting the snot kicked out of him by the Giants D-Line.
You hate New York sports Bill, we get it. But hey, to be fair I have a sense of humor and found this effort to be hilarious.
That shot Ewing hit, much like the Knicks sweeping Barkley’s Sixers, became over-hyped via the NY media because the Knicks never went on to win titles and I understand.
But to flip it the other way and hype up a fictional theory about Ewing to irritate Knicks fans, seems petty. Petty because it’s inaccurate.
The following is an excerpt from an email sent to Simmons that he has has yet to respond to, written by the former star of “Brooklyn Bridge” and HAY-uge Ewing supporter.
If any of you know Danny Lanzetta, please send this along to him. I’d like to shake his hand.
← Older posts“…There are other flaws in your “theory.” Before the Lang-induced injury, Ewing had missed 20 games in the previous ten seasons. So what is your “theory” based on pre-1997-1998? Just want to discount that entire body of work when there clearly isn’t a large enough sample to say whether the Knicks would’ve been better without him? (Ask Gerald Wilkins and Johnny Newman what they think.) And if your point is that post-injury Camby, Sprewell and Houston were more responsible for the Knicks’ success than Patrick, well, that’s debatable (we can go playoff game-by-playoff-game if you’d like at some point), but at this point you’re also judging Ewing post-injury, in the twilight of his career. (more…)
