Overrated or Underrated: Patrick Ewing

Three trips to the NCAA finals, one ring, and two losses in two of the best-remembered final games ever. Missed having three rings by a combined 3 points.

Rookie of the Year.

11 time All Star

1 time All NBA First Team

6 time All NBA Second Team

3 time All NBA Defensive Second Team

Member of the '92 Dream Team, NBA 50 Greatest Players of All Time

Never won a championship.

Went to the Finals once, where they lost to Hakeem's Houston Rockets.

I think this guy was consistently good for about 11 years. He was a monster coming out of college, lost a step over the course of his career, but could always knock down the baseline jumper like few other big men.

He had the misfortune of playing at a time that was arguably the best for big men in the history of the league. And he was in the Eastern Conference during Jordan's God Phase.

But should he be considered one of the Top 50 of All Time anymore?

stats???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145x1N-pXt8

career .504 shooter, career 21 pts, 9.8 rebs, 2.4 blks/game. something like 29/11/4 per game in his best season.

Ewing is rated pretty much correctly. Not quite a top 20, but a top 50.

Patrick Ewing <<<<< Patrick Chewing

ORLANDO, FL—Since the NBA Finals began, Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing has been sharing his vast knowledge of how to lose the title with Dwight Howard, carefully but emphatically advising the center to concentrate on making crucial mistakes if he wants to put his team in the best position to lose. "Dwight, if you want to misdominate this series, you have to get creative with those turnovers and be willing to commit stupid technical fouls," Ewing said Monday, encouraging Howard to expose his ballhandling deficiencies by dribbling as much as possible. "You gotta be soft in the paint. You gotta waste energy. Let them push you around and box you out. And if you get the ball, drive as hard as you can toward the sidelines and look for the panic pass." Ewing reportedly stayed after practice to help Howard work on throwing the ball away and missing free throws.

so, overrated.

Ewing looked like he was going to be great when he was at Georgetown and he ended up being one of maybe 10-20 best centers to ever play in the NBA which is definitely something still it's hard to escape the feeling that he was pretty disappointing. Being that big and strong and then deciding developing a game so far so far from the basket just seems perverse somehow.

I'd have to re-look at the top 50 list now, but my feeling is that no he probably shouldn't be on it (and maybe shouldn't have been on it back when they originally did it.)

How about just centers:

Definitely better:

Kareem
Shaq
Hakeem
Wilt
Russell
M Malone
Walton
Robinson
Mikan

Possibly better or at least on par:
Willis Reed
Dwight Howard
Are Gasol, Duncan, and Nowitzki not centers even though they play center pretty frequently?

Duncan is a center IMO and Duncan is way way way way better.

Artis Gilmore (who is criminally not in the HOF or the top 50 list) was also better (possibly even way better.)

Bob Lanier was also probably better.

Cowens, Sikma, Reed, Issel? I guess Ewing was better than those guys, but again it doesn't seem like by as much as he should have been.

Dolph Schayes? Elvin Hayes? Both F/C, I guess, but probably better too (Schayes way before my time though.)

Artis was damn good but always stood in Kareem's shadow. Too bad. He deserves better.