’90 Patrick Ewing vs ’23 Joel Embiid

[Matt15]

Who was the better player?

[ardee]

Yeah this is Ewing. He was a monster in the Playoffs that year and actually scored at a higher rate than in the regular season unlike Joel "-9.4" Embiid.

Also Ewing was a much better defender.

[Gooner]

Ewing and it's not even close. Nobody would be able to stop him in this era.

[GSP]

There are not many bigs who ever peaked higher than 90 Ewing..........what he did to our Bird,Mchale,Parish frontline and Bad Boys 2 of the very best frontcourts.......was some otherwordly ****. Def something playoff dropper Embiid cant even dream of.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

These are 2 of the best playoff performances ever by a center........44,13,5 with 7 steals and 2 blocks on .787ts

Like Jokic prolly peaked higher than 90 Ewing...........but im not THAT confident about it........

[FuShengTHEGreat]

There are not many bigs who ever peaked higher than 90 Ewing..........what he did to our Bird,Mchale,Parish frontline and Bad Boys 2 of the very best frontcourts.......was some otherwordly ****. Def something playoff dropper Embiid cant even dream of.

These are 2 of the best playoff performances ever by a center........44,13,5 with 7 steals and 2 blocks on .787ts

Like Jokic prolly peaked higher than 90 Ewing...........but im not THAT confident about it........

And what makes that opening round series so impressive is the first 2 games of the series it was like watching the Dream Team vs their opponents at Barcelona 92. Boston was far more talented and scored a NBA record 157 points in game 2. Sweeping NY looked like a mere formality.

That was the greatest individual underdog against the odds comeback performance in NBA playoff history imo.

Just a complete ball busting performance by Ewing.

[The Master]

Yeah this is Ewing. He was a monster in the Playoffs that year and actually scored at a higher rate than in the regular season unlike Joel "-9.4" Embiid.

Also Ewing was a much better defender.

I don't think Ewing was a much better defender at that time nor I believe crushing old Boston team holds that much of a value since this series was definitely an outlier for Ewing's career, so in perspective it should make you wonder whether it was really monster Ewing or just 'contextualised' Ewing.

That being said, he was obviously much better in the playoffs, so it's defendable here to have him higher. From legacy standpoint, Embiid's season is much more valuable, so it's all about over-/underselling postseason.

[Jaivl]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

[migya]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

You should watch the videos above.

[70sFan]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

You should watch the videos above.

Are you serious?

[70sFan]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

I think Embiid is clearly a better offensive player, but I don't think considering 1990 Ewing over 2023 Embiid will be "funny bump" soon. I have struggled with this comparison since 2021 and to me Embiid didn't prove himself to be clearly better than Ewing. MVP doesn't change anything, as I don't think Embiid deserved it over Jokic and Ewing faced stiffer competition in 1990.

[Owly]

Yeah this is Ewing. He was a monster in the Playoffs that year and actually scored at a higher rate than in the regular season unlike Joel "-9.4" Embiid.

Also Ewing was a much better defender.

There are not many bigs who ever peaked higher than 90 Ewing..........what he did to our Bird,Mchale,Parish frontline and Bad Boys 2 of the very best frontcourts ...

Ewing was highly productive in those playoffs.

That said I would understand his primary matchups to be Parish and Edwards (I could be wrong). That they are older (36 and 34) does not necessarily mean ineffective, in light of the hype of the overall frontline (not necessarily the actual matchup) given here ... Ewing should be at a physical advantage. It should also be noted at this point that Parish had a record as pretty severe playoff faller.

In this context both were efficient scorers in their NYK series and Edwards did so at good volume whilst Parish feasted at the offensive glass.

This not to suggest Ewing played poorly. And centers defensive responsibilities can extend beyond "their man". Nevertheless I do think that Ewing's peak production and his strongest playoff production (especially offensively/scoring-wise) can sometimes allow people to miss that "his men" got theirs too. Fwiw - and this, again, is noisy and is by no means a reflection only on Ewing - both the Celtics (119.3) and Pistons (114.5) put up pretty healthy offensive ratings.

[Woodsanity]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

Joel Embiid guarding Jayson Tatum:

24 points
8/10 FG
4/4 3PT
4/4 FT

Never ever put Embiid in the same tier as Ewing defensively.
He is 2-3 tiers below him.

[Jaivl]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

I think Embiid is clearly a better offensive player, but I don't think considering 1990 Ewing over 2023 Embiid will be "funny bump" soon. I have struggled with this comparison since 2021 and to me Embiid didn't prove himself to be clearly better than Ewing. MVP doesn't change anything, as I don't think Embiid deserved it over Jokic and Ewing faced stiffer competition in 1990.

Speaking strictly on offense, of course (as I signaled twice on my post).

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

Joel Embiid guarding Jayson Tatum:

24 points
8/10 FG
4/4 3PT
4/4 FT

Never ever put Embiid in the same tier as Ewing defensively.
He is 2-3 tiers below him.

Yeah that goes without saying (although not cause of 1-game samples vs a wing).

[Woodsanity]

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

I think Embiid is clearly a better offensive player, but I don't think considering 1990 Ewing over 2023 Embiid will be "funny bump" soon. I have struggled with this comparison since 2021 and to me Embiid didn't prove himself to be clearly better than Ewing. MVP doesn't change anything, as I don't think Embiid deserved it over Jokic and Ewing faced stiffer competition in 1990.

Speaking strictly on offense, of course (as I signaled twice on my post).

Lol, this is absolutely ridiculous -- Embiid is a better offensive player than peak Ewing at every single aspect of the game, other than being faster (making him a better stylistic matchup for the 1990 Celtics' old, plodding bigs).

This seems like it's going to be a very funny bump sometime soon-ish. Open to hear arguments about avaliability, but in terms of (offensive) impact while on court it's night and day.

Joel Embiid guarding Jayson Tatum:

24 points
8/10 FG
4/4 3PT
4/4 FT

Never ever put Embiid in the same tier as Ewing defensively.
He is 2-3 tiers below him.

Yeah that goes without saying (although not cause of 1-game samples vs a wing).

For some reason I read that as better defense than Ewing my bad. Still the problem with Embiid is his offensive production drops from super elite in RS to very mundane. Huge drop in PPG and efficiency.

In RS I would take Embiid over Ewing overall but in PS it flips and you can argue Ewing since the offensive advantage decreases a lot.

[iggymcfrack]

I'd take Ewing over this year's Embiid since Joel **** the bed so hard in the playoffs, but I'd probably take 20/21 Embiid over Ewing. Embiid averaged 30/13/4 against the Hawks and these were his on/off numbers:

Regular season: +12.4 NetRtg, +12.3 on/off
Postseason: +14.7 NetRtg, +19.9 on/off

That's pretty unimpeachable. Those Game 4 stats for Ewing against Boston are nuts though. The 7 steals is just mindblowing. Talk about an all-time dominant game.

[KobesScarf]

Ewing played almost 1000 more minutes you can't even compare

[RHODEY]

Definitely Ewing. Recency bias notwithstanding...