So much was expected of Patrick Ewing that landing 48th
on my top 100 list feels like a bit of a disappointment. Unfortunately, Ewing
always was a player who suffered in comparison to someone else.
Ewing was the overwhelming No. 1 pick by the New York Knicks
coming out of Georgetown. In college, Ewing had led the Hoyas to three NCAA championship
games and one NCAA title. He was the third straight center to be taken No. 1 overall,
following Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1983 and 1984.
Ewing was expected to carry the Knicks to the same kind of
success. He came close, but there always was one mountain too high to climb.
His Knicks rose to contention at the same time the Chicago
Bulls were taking over the NBA. The Bulls eliminated Ewing’s Knicks in 1989
(six games), 1991 (three games), 1992 (seven games) and 1993 (six games). In
1993-1994, when Jordan surprisingly retired to try his hand at minor league
baseball, the Knicks seized the opening to make the NBA Finals for the first
time since 1973. There, though, Ewing ran into Olajuwon’s Rockets, who knocked
off the Knicks in seven games.
In 1994-1995, his team fell to the Packers in seven games
and in 1995-1996 Jordan’s Bulls returned to the top of the NBA for another
three-year run. In 1998-1999, the Knicks made a surprising run to the NBA
Finals, but Ewing missed it because of injuries.
It is tempting to say Ewing never had quite as much help as the players winning titles in those years, but in truth, many of those playoff failures land at his feet because the Ewing of the playoffs was rarely good as the Ewing of the regular season. Here’s a look at his PERs and Box +/- in the postseason versus the regular season.
It is tempting to say Ewing never had quite as much help as the players winning titles in those years, but in truth, many of those playoff failures land at his feet because the Ewing of the playoffs was rarely good as the Ewing of the regular season. Here’s a look at his PERs and Box +/- in the postseason versus the regular season.
|
Ewing
season vs. playoffs
|
||||
|
|
PER
|
Box +/-
|
||
|
Year
|
Season
|
Playoffs
|
Season
|
Playoffs
|
|
1987-1988
|
21.9
|
20.7
|
4.4
|
5.1
|
|
1988-1989
|
22.1
|
19.1
|
4.7
|
2.2
|
|
1989-1990
|
25.8
|
25.4
|
4.6
|
4.2
|
|
1990-1991
|
23.7
|
10.3
|
3.9
|
-4.3
|
|
1991-1992
|
22.8
|
19.9
|
4.0
|
4.8
|
|
1992-1993
|
20.8
|
21.6
|
2.2
|
3.1
|
|
1993-1994
|
22.9
|
20.6
|
4.5
|
4.4
|
|
1994-1995
|
21.9
|
18.9
|
2.2
|
2.1
|
|
1995-1996
|
20.9
|
18.1
|
-0.4
|
1.1
|
|
1996-1997
|
21.3
|
21.0
|
1.7
|
2.7
|
|
1997-1998
|
23.3
|
10.7
|
-0.2
|
-4.8
|
|
1998-1999
|
19.4
|
17
|
-0.5
|
-1.4
|
|
1999-2000
|
16.9
|
17.9
|
-1.6
|
-2.7
|
|
2001-2002
|
14.4
|
13.8
|
-0.7
|
0.0
|
As you can see, only twice did he have a better PER in the playoffs than the regular season.
Ewing also suffered in comparison to the players in his era. He got votes for MVP in eight seasons but never finished higher than fourth. He was first team all-NBA just once, in 1989-1990, and second six times. First it was Olajuwon, then Olajuwon and David Robinson, then Olajuwon, Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal who overshadowed Ewing.
Those are the negatives. The positives are that Ewing had PERs above 20.0 for 11 straight seasons – from 1987-1988 to 1997-1998 – and had six straight years of 10.0 win shares or better. Although he was never the shot blocker that he was expected to be coming out of college, he did lead the NBA in defensive win shares three times. Despite gimpy knees for his entire career, Ewing played 75 or more games per season 11 times in 17 seasons.
Ewing was undoubtedly a great player in a great era, just
never near the greatest player in his time.
|
Patrick
Ewing bio info
|
|
|
Career
|
1985-2002
|
|
Games
|
1,183
|
|
Points
|
21.0
|
|
Rebounds
|
9.8
|
|
Assists
|
1.9
|
|
FG Pct.
|
50.4%
|
|
All-Star games
|
11
|
|
NBA MVPs
|
0
|
|
NBA Titles
|
0
|
|
Playoff seasons
|
14
|
|
Playoff games
|
139
|
|
Points
|
20.2
|
|
Rebounds
|
10.3
|
|
Assists
|
2.0
|
|
FG Pct.
|
46.9%
|
|
Hall of Fame
|
2008
|
|
Top 100
rankings
|
||
|
|
Points
|
Top 100 ranking
|
|
1-year
|
303.84
|
83rd
|
|
5-year
|
1,399.48
|
60th
|
|
10-year
|
2,552.22
|
44th
|
|
Career
|
3,382.09
|
40th
|
|
Patrick
Ewing at his peak
|
|||
|
1993-1994
|
Ewing
|
Top 5
|
Points
|
|
PER
|
22.9
|
26.11
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
13.1
|
15.57
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
4.5
|
7.88
|
|
|
VORP
|
4.9
|
7.85
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
45.4
|
57.41
|
79.09
|
|
Playoff PER
|
20.6
|
25.55
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
3.2
|
3.30
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
4.4
|
7.25
|
|
|
VORP
|
1.7
|
1.78
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
29.9
|
37.88
|
78.93
|
|
Reg. Season Win %
|
70.89
|
70.89
|
|
|
Playoff Win %
|
56.00
|
56.00
|
|
|
MVP Voting (75 points)
|
255/1010
|
18.94
|
|
|
Playoff MVP (25 points)
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Total Score
|
|
|
303.84
|
|
Ewing’s 10 greatest seasons
|
|
|
1993-1994
|
303.84
|
|
1992-1993
|
290.32
|
|
1991-1992
|
271.90
|
|
1988-1989
|
267.65
|
|
1989-1990
|
265.76
|
|
1996-1997
|
263.82
|
|
1994-1995
|
263.24
|
|
1998-1999
|
217.33
|
|
1995-1996
|
208.69
|
|
1987-1988
|
199.67
|
|
Career
winning percentage
|
|||
|
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
Regular Season
|
678
|
515
|
56.83%
|
|
Playoffs
|
72
|
67
|
52.55%
|
No comments:
Post a Comment