Pat Ewing retires… for now.
It’s a sad, sad, day. The Houston Rockets are going to have to say goodbye to the big fella.
Patrick Ewing, the superstar NBA center that was once the New York Media’s negative pet project like ARod is today, has resigned from his post on the Houston Rockets staff. His reason is of course that he wants to spend more time with his family. Let’s see if he’s more Stan Van Jeremy or Roger Clemens. I can think of one team whose fans would welcome him back with open arms.
There’s been alot of debate on this site about whether Kobe is a selfish player or not and why he’s so stubborn, but he’s got nothing on Pat. This is a man who coming out of college was supposed to be “The Next Bill Russell”, and instead became a jump shooter. He was a good defensive center, but he’s remembered for revolutionizing the extra footsteps through the lane and the 20 foot baseline turnaround fadeaway. When the Knicks were becoming an elite team with a bunch of guys that could score (or at least intimidate the other team into letting them score), Pat still insisted that he needed the ball and he was the man. When he missed big shot after big shot in tight games, he still insisted he was the man. When his career was slowed down by injuries and the squad was loaded with Spree, Houston, LJ, and so on, Pat made it clear that he needed the ball and he was still the man. When the Knicks shaved their heads for the playoffs as a show of team unity, Pat refused. As a fan, the toughest loss I’ve ever had to absorb was the blown finger roll in game 7 of the ‘95 playoffs against Indy.
Despite all that, how can you not love Patrick Ewing? Sure, maybe now Yao will go back to being a center that can pass the ball with a good feel for the game again, but the Rockets just got a lot less fun. I mean, Charlie Ward is taking a bigger role on the staff? Borrrrring. Come back to NY, Pat.
11 Responses to “Pat Ewing retires… for now.”
Aug.30 at 10:01 am
Nadav says:
I’de say he’s remembered for, among many others, Jordan’s “drive baseline, wait I wanna go back out, no wait I’m MJ I’ll drive back in, go up, meet Pat half way up, watch Pat go back down, keep going up, and making Pat my bitch” dunk
Aug.30 at 12:31 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
Yeah yeah yeah, they even showed that dunk in “Boomerang.” So the guy got dunked on alot. The Pippen dunk and “celebration” was the most emasculating thing I’ve ever seen an athlete do to another man.
Aug.30 at 12:41 pm
Alex says:
Hey Sam, In case I missed your previous posting, how can I see it? When I click on archive it just takes me to the main page. I like the new setup but it seems harder to get to previous posting especially when you have more than 1 posting per day… It’s be much easier if at least current day postings were all available without have to search for them in the archive.
Aug.30 at 1:07 pm
Hype says:
-Alex, the archives thingy isn’t working for me either, BUT, you can click on the link whereever it says “The Peoples Champ” up top Sam’s article (just under the title) or in the bottom where there’s the time stamp. I’ll always remember Ewing in that tv cartoon episode of Clerks where he hits the jump shot to win and Barkley wakes him up saying, “still dreaming of that jumper Pat?”
Aug.30 at 1:39 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
You are correct in how to find it. We’re working on the archive thing for everybody’s page.
Aug.30 at 2:49 pm
Pablo Favarel (from Argentina) says:
Sam, you messed it up pretty badly. As a Knicks fan, how could you ever dared to criticize Patrick Ewing? Fans like you are bad for sports. As Larry Bird´d say on that movie “Celtic Pride”: “fans like you make me sick. You should now something about loyalty”.
P.S.: about that `99 Knicks run: do you still think the Knicks would have made it through the Heat, Hawks and the first couple of games against the Pacers? And if Ewing had been healthy, the Spurs-Knicks match up´d have been a lot more tighted up than what ended up being.
Aug.30 at 8:50 pm
Wingo says:
Is it just me or watching Pat Ewing attempting a jumpers makes you GAG!?I mean the elbow crooked, the ball is way up there, I must say one of the more robotic stroke ever seen in the 90’s.(free throw dont count)
Aug.30 at 10:04 pm
Dblizzy says:
I’m still mad at how the Knicks did Pat. they could have let him retire in NY which is what he wanted, but they sold out. Now they stink and they’ve stunk ever since he left. I can see 30 yrs from now, everyone talking about the Pat Ewing Curse that ruined the Knicks!
Aug.31 at 5:21 am
Boing Dynasty says:
maybe, but i’d rather blame it on isiah
Aug.31 at 5:22 am
Boing Dynasty says:
or Rob Babcock
Sep.2 at 4:45 am
John says:
Kobe doesn’t miss big shot after big shot though.