I don’t think any player (maybe Karl Malone) gets more underrated year after year than Patrick Ewing. The main reason is as time goes by people that did not watch athletes from another era only have stats and video to create their judgement on these players and when they don’t see a ring or a godly amount of records they start to group them with current players they are familiar with that don’t have a ring or similar accomplishments.
Patrick Ewing turns 50 today and just like the day he turned 40 or 30 he has no championship rings on his finger. You can thank mainly Michael Jordan for that. He doesn’t have as many All-NBA 1st team awards that people would like to see but you can thank Kareem, Moses Malone, Hakeem, David Robinson and Shaq for that. What Patrick Ewing did have was a monster game that would dominate today’s NBA and make you laugh at the thought that a player like Andrew Bynum could be considered the best center in the league. His offensive game is superior to any center in the past few years and his defense was criminally underrated.
This post doesn’t do anytype of justice as a tribute to Ewing but it’s good enough as a birthday card that says “Happy Birthday. We need more Ewings in today’s basketball”
Rookie of the Year (1986)
All-NBA First Team (1990)
All-NBA Second Team (1988, ’89, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’97)
NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1988, ’89, ’92)
11-time All-Star; One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)
2-time Olympic gold medalist (1984, ’92)
NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1984)
Naismith College Player of the Year in (1985).
Number 33 Retired for the New York Knicks
Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2008
