As I mentioned in last thread, was re-watching G5 of the 1994 Knicks/Pacers series, and Ewing looks fantastic to me. I'll scout just a few plays in the early going to illustrate what I mean....
1:15 - Notice how alert Ewing is, rotating to stop the rolling Dale Davis practically before the pass is even in the air. Cuts him off (Davis passes to McKey), and then recovers quick enough to block the lay-up attempt by McKey. Ball takes a lucky couple of bounces for Indiana (off a shoulder, then a hand) until it flicks behind Ewing's head and right into McKey's hands again for the put-back. Lucky bounce for the Pacers, but that was a
tremendous defensive possession for Ewing.
8:57 - When Smits tries to come across the paint (whether it's to post-up or set the screen for Miller---not sure if Ewing could tell right at first), look how physical Ewing is, basically just not allowing him to get where he wants while precious second bleed of the shotclock. Then look at him shade the drive by Fleming and then [I think] get a piece of that shot attempt (changed it, at the very least), and then changes the 2nd attempt, too; ball ultimately goes out-of-bounds to NY. This is another just tremendous defensive possession for him.
19:14 - Fights thru the screen pretty well to get right up in Smits' grill once he receives the ball in the post; Smits kicks it back out. Ewing continues to be very physical down there, nudging him off his spot. Then when Workman attempts to drive off the screen (which is called for a foul, ending the play), notice how effectively Ewing had hedged off any penetration.
23:30 - Watch how he shades the attempted penetration by Haywoode Workman at first; Workman didn't really beat his man enough to have an angle, but even if he had, Ewing would have been there. When the ball is then kicked to Miller curling around a screen at the top of the key, Ewing quickly hedges to cover that until he's satisfied Starks has recovered him; then gets a nice box-out on Dale Davis.
These are just a few examples, but really he's doing stuff like this all game. Just extremely active and very aware of what's transpiring (not just with his man, but with everyone).
He's extremely competitive among those left in the DVOR I'd previously presented (as well as box-based defensive metrics). The only thing he's lacking relative to some of the others are accolades and DPOY shares. But with the former, one has to bear in mind that his prime almost exactly overlapped with that of Hakeem Olajuwon, as well as several years of prime David Robinson AND prime Dikembe Mutombo, plus a few years of prime Alonzo Mourning. Given only two centers will get All-D honors in any given year, it's frankly remarkable that he managed three All-D 2nd selections.
As to DPOY shares, there are those same characters he's in competition with, as well as overlapping primes of perimeter(ish) players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, etc. And as I noted previously, sometimes the voters just get it wrong. Case in point: the '93 and '94 Knicks......two of the most dominant team defenses in the history of the NBA, and yet the total DPOY shares going to ANY Knick player in both years COMBINED is just 0.050.
Vote: Patrick Ewing."Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience." -George Carlin
"The fact that a proposition is absurd has never hindered those who wish to believe it." -Edward Rutherfurd
