Category Archives: Patrick Ewing
Just so we are all clear here, what we are trying to express here, in addition 
to giving you some inside information and knowledge, is that the ship is going in the right direction and that, as fans, patience is a wonderful thing.
Agreeing or disagreeing, as my dad would say, “is what makes a horse race.”
Information aside, I’d also like to think that we give you some insight to help you create your own thoughts, thus staying away from the trap many young sports minds fall into. That major outlets reputation for sports supremacy overrides one’s very own common sense.
Here are a few examples. I’ve been around this team for a while now, and haven’t seen one journalist, outside the NY market, there working on a “season preview.” Now, I’m not there every day, but my point is that the beat writers who are really have this group of Knicks covered and understand the team much more than an outsider looking in. Obviously, it’s impossible for magazine people to be there day in and day out, but I’m baffled at how many outlets can say that a team, who is playing much better defense and has a more structured and selfless roster, can possibly lose more games than they did last year. This team is better and will win more games against the average NBA teams, and there are plenty, this season.
Now, contrary to some belief, I am not waving the blue and orange pom poms. I am merely stating that it is in no way out of the realm of possibility that this team can win 36-40 games.
With that said here are a few pieces of “news” that I found pretty interesting today. One about the Knicks and one about the season, just to give you an example of how, as a fan first, the national media can make me shake my head.
Bill Simmons, who is a pioneer in this space and whose Atrocious GM Summit, to this day, is still one of the funniest pieces of sports ficton I have ever read.
That said, Bill’s take on the Patrick Ewing Era is well-thought, and another excerpt has come out because Sports Guy is promoting a book. As smart as his take is, like most of Bill’s reads, he is a gung ho Boston fan and here in lies the problem.
“…Knicks fans did their damnedest to talk themselves into the Patrick Ewing era. Everyone believed Ewing was the Evolutionary Russell, a destructive defensive force who would own the league someday. Only it didn’t happen … and it didn’t happen … and then it seemed like it was happening, only it turned out to be a tease … and it didn’t happen … and at some point everyone except for the delusional Knicks fans realized that it was never going to happen…”
Now as a Knick fan, I remember the Ewing comparisons to Bill Russell were made, but for those who know me know I hate comparisons for this very reason. Knick fans aren’t upset at Patrick for not winning 100 championships like Russell, they just wanted one. So when a player comes out and they are compared to a Hall of Famer what chance do they really have based on this example? (more…)
Patrick Ewing has been lobbying for the head coaching job with the Wizards, 
but ESPN is reporting that Washington is already in discussions with former Timberwolves and Pistons’ coach Flip Saunders.
“…Flip Saunders appears to be at the top of the Washington Wizards‘ coaching wish list, according to league sources.
While no deal has been struck, one source said the two sides have had preliminary discussions.
Approaching Saunders makes it clear that the Wizards do not plan to remove the interim tag on Ed Tapscott, their director of player development who coached the team for most of the season. Tapscott replaced the incumbent, Eddie Jordan, three weeks into this season after an injury-plagued 1-10 start.
Jordan, 54, helped the Wizards reach the playoffs in four of his five full seasons as coach but made it out of the first round only once.
Both Saunders and Jordan are expected to be part of this offseason coaching carousel. Jordan, several league sources say, is now a candidate to succeed Sacramento Kings interim coach Kenny Natt, who stepped in for Reggie Theus on Dec. 16 after a 6-18 start. Coincidentally, both Jordan and Theus were fired this season after disappointing losses to the New York Knicks…”
I’m rooting for Patrick to get a job, I just don’t know when it’s coming or where it’s coming from.
Clyde Frazier never received an explanation from the organization as he was
unceremoniously dealt to Cleveland back in 1977 and we all know that Patrick Ewing’s battle with the front office, namely Dave Checketts, was the reason he was dealt.
Although jaded, the ever-classy Frazier ended up coming home to be an announcer and has become the ultimate and transcendent Knick. It’s hard not to like Clyde.
And to Patrick’s credit, he seems like a likable guy too, evident by his openly friendly exchange with Mike Breen before last night’s tip.
I understand the argument that Donnie Walsh knows what he’s doing and that there are no legit bigs to maximize Ewing’s talents here. He won’t be the head coach here…probably ever.
I hope he gets a head coaching job, but I hope that he wins that elusive championship here while on the bench much more. Imagine Ewing hugging players (maybe even his son) and waving to the fans finally a champion? That, to me, would be poetic justice. But it’s appears to be a pipe dream at best.
We know life isn’t like that all the time, if ever, so maybe Ewing’s days here are over, forever. I don’t want to think that but it very well may be the case.
I think Chris Sheridan sums it up best:
“…If his big coaching break comes, it won’t come in New York unless the D’Antoni era ends up being a disaster and he’s sent packing in the summer of 2012.
“Unfortunately, we never got to the promised land — but we came close,” Ewing said of his time in a New York uniform.
Now, similar things can be said for Ewing’s new promised land — a head coaching seat — with the one big difference being that the window of opportunity will never close as long as he remains patient, works hard and perseveres.
That’s what he did as a player, and that’s what he’s doing as an assistant coach, too, until the phone call that never came from the Knicks last summer comes from someone else, some day, somewhere down the road…”
It makes sense it comes in DC where he starred in college, but to me, his real home is at 2 Penn Plaza. Too much blood, sweat and tears.
“I’m not trying to needle anybody or tell them their business,”
Van Gundy said after Orlando beat the Knicks 106-102. “What’s amazing is they honor the guy, I don’t know, every year. They honor him, but while they’ve got a lot of ex-players in their organization, they’ve never made any move to try to hire him. That to me is amazing.” – Stan Van Gundy on Ewing. (finger point to P&T)
I mean, the guy is right.
Despite not having much chance to make the playoffs, there are still some 
storylines surrounding the Knicks.
Speaking personally, I’m agitated that Patrick Ewing is an assistant on another team. I’m tired of honoring the guy when he’s a member of another organization. He should be every bit what Don Mattingly was to that generation of Yankee fans, that is to say he should be the guy who played hard and for whatever reason just fell short of being a champion.
Clearly for Mattingly, it was his back and what hurts even more for Yankee fans is the fact that Donnie Baseball couldn’t hold up a few more years so that he could have been consumed by the Dynasty and headed directly to the Hall of Fame with a few rings in his back pocket. Sure, a strike in 1994 may have hampered DB’s real shot at a ring, I mean the guy was hitting .304 and bringing it at the time, but did the Yanks have any shot against the Expos had the season played out? We’ll never know… But, without question, he goes down as an iconic Yankee.
I use Mattingly as the example because, despite not playing that long in comparision to Patrick, can anyone name a better long-term New York athlete that didn’t become a champion over the past 3 decades? Curtis Martin? Nah, didn’t play long enough. And what are the ramifications on Ewing because he fell short?
I’ve said this far too often. Ewing’s greatness is overlooked. It just is. The guy got everything out of himself and his game despite the lofty expectations. No one worked harder and no one played hurt with more on the line. If you were asked to sign on the dotted line for Ewing’s career stats the day he was drafted you’d have to. Yet, as we all know, players are defined by championships.
Sure he wasn’t a media darling for whatever reason. Who knows why? And really, who cares?
The guy was a warrior who had us at the top of the conference for a decade and he’s been called the “Greatest Knick ever” by Clyde Frazier.
Please feel free to post your thoughts on Patrick. The good, the bad…whatever.
Should he be a part of this organization? Will he ever? Why hasn’t he? Has the door closed on one of the greatest to wear the jersey? Are you tired of seeing him wave to the crowd from the opposing bench?
I’d love to hear what you guys have to say about #33.
The Knicks think the world of Herb Williams, but when you look at Patrick 
Ewing’s overall resume the Knicks should actively pursue bringing him back to his house.
Forget the fact that Ewing is the greatest Knick of all-time (statistically speaking), the work that he has done with Yao and Dwight Howard has been outstanding. Now, should the Knicks land themselves a big man, Ewing would be the ideal candidate. Or maybe he could do something with Cheikh Samb?
But Ewing is looking for a head coaching job, and wouldn’t seem to be interested in being an assistant for several more years, which is exactly how long the Knicks would want him to be here.
So with that in mind, it’s a long shot at best that Ewing would make a return here and that’s not even mentioning if #33 is still sour at the organization with how they treated his son this season.
It’s a long shot that the Knicks draft a big man project as well as they could use some help in several areas right away and lumbering big men don’t fit in Mike D’Antoni’s system.
Here is my first column on the NBA for SNY.tv, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
“…Apologies to Hasheem Thabeet, who I don’t believe will have an impact on the NBA — if at all — for several years, but there is a simple reason why the art of shot blocking has become almost extinct. Look at Yao. The guy is a polished post player, but it took the tutelage of one Patrick Ewing to get him to be in a position to be a post dominator. Now, if Thabeet falls to the Knicks and Ewing doesn’t have an NBA head coaching job, well, pencil Ewing to a seat on the pine next to Mike D’Antoni…”
Just a few thoughts, also, on the Tournament.
I like Eric Maynor, and as Alvino noted to me he looks like Marbury a bit, but I was disappointed by his performance against UCLA. Then I realized that Jrue Holiday, once Darren Collison was out with fouls, spent a good portion of the night guarding him. Holiday is going to be something, although I hope for his sake he stays a year and learns more under Howland.
I’m not a huge Thabeet fan but if Ewing can get his hands on him fine. The question is, do the ties between Ewing and NY still exist, or does he get the head job in Washington? We’ll see.
I think Dejuan Blair could be a Craig Smith type. Undersized, no real position, but has a chance to be a solid NBA player.
Obviously, Patrick is one of my favorite players, but who knows more about getting dunked on than Ewing? Great spot by Snickers, who are always well-equipped with comedy.
Finger point to Gym Rat Mike K., who’s getting it done late at SUNY Albany.
I remember sitting in the second row at MSG, just days after a Patrick 
Ewing Jr. was waived. There was a lanky young man talking to Knicks officials and shaking hands with anyone who would have him. You don’t realize how young he is until you see the baggy clothes draped from his body.
Yep, it was Jr. in a sweat suit with his I-Pod earphones dangling just hanging around in the Garden.
To me that was a sure sign that Marbury was about to be waived and Jr. would resume his career in the same building as his dad.
Now, some 4 months later there are roster spots. The vacancies that weren’t available for the kid. Gone is Marbury and Anthony Roberson, who took the kid’s spot to begin with. Gone, too, is Malik Rose.
There is a vacancy for a project big man, and for a combo guard. Why not for the kid who just may be the easiest PR decision in the team’s history?
Of course we know Donnie Walsh doesn’t operate from a PR standpoint, but he knows good business.
So with his dad in town, a man who has to be unhappy about having his own door to MSG apparently shut in his face, I wonder if the relationship can be reconnected by Walsh again letting his son play here.
And I wonder if that will happen soon.
I mean can you imagine the two of them celebrating together on the Knicks bench in a few years?
Quite simply, Sports Illustrated’s photography will always make them 
relevant, even if the publishing world dissolves someday. They are a venerable library of the greatest moments in sports captured on film. I had the opportunity to work there for a few years, and it was a tremendous experience.
Granted, recently, SI has done a great job staying relevant with the Torre book and the A-Roid scandal, and they’ve recently done a great job putting together a Knicks photo scrapbook.
If you know me you know that my favorite All-Time Knicks were Oak and Ewing, which is odd because I was a guard. Although he was only here a short time, Derek Harper’s ability to lead from a defensive standpoint always made me admire him tremendously. He would have been the finals MVP in 1994 had we won, as far as I’m concerned. He’ll always be one of my favorites as well. Heck, they change the hand check rules because of him.
Imagine bring the ball up all game against that guy?
Anyway, enjoy the photos. They are special across the board and they tell the story of the Knicks over the past 50-plus years.
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