Was Patrick Ewing really the best NBA prospect of all time?

[Capn'O]

I haven't seen anyone mention this but Ewing had a lot of injuries in college and his early years, even though he played a lot of games he'd basically play through injury. Nearly his entire career was played on two dodgy knees with one being particularly bad, and then he got a wrist injury which **** up his great jump shot.

We basically saw the floor of what he could've been, barring him just giving up and not playing at all. Ewing was one tough dude.

EDIT: Youtube channel won't let me share it but basically he played with a torn achilles in the playoffs.

Yes! Yes! and Yes! To all of this. By the '94 finals he was no longer fast enough to keep up with Hakeem as he was in his earlier years.

(Partial) torn achilles was in 1999. Finally took him out in the Indiana series.

Ewing was an absolute warrior.

[mastermixer]

Tier 1 Prospects
Kareem
LBJ
Shaq

[LakersLegacy]

Ewing was less hype than Hakeem unless you were from Georgetown or Jamaica... and perhaps NewYork celebrating the championship you thought Ewing would win before he ever won an NBA game?

[Capn'O]

I haven't seen anyone mention this but Ewing had a lot of injuries in college and his early years, even though he played a lot of games he'd basically play through injury. Nearly his entire career was played on two dodgy knees with one being particularly bad, and then he got a wrist injury which **** up his great jump shot.

We basically saw the floor of what he could've been, barring him just giving up and not playing at all. Ewing was one tough dude.

EDIT: Youtube channel won't let me share it but basically he played with a torn achilles in the playoffs.

Hmm...I recall some injuries, but I thought he was relatively healthy through 1990 and then early 90's the injuries ramped up. Am I off?

Ewing missed time for knee injuries in his first few seasons. As Jables said, he played a lot of games in years that followed but ones that many players would have sat out from. He played his whole career with knee braces and images of Patrick on the bench with huge ice packs on his knees was sort of a proto-meme.

Spoiler:

That last picture is likely photoshopped since it shows him in Sonics garb and, as everyone knows, Ewing played his entire career with the Knicks

[jkvonny]

Good memory yall.
Had forgotten that Ewing was battling knee injuries most of his career.
That stinks.

[JonFromVA]

Kareem is the GOAT high school and college player, nobody comes close to what he accomplished before he got to the NBA.

This is what I was going to say, Kareem dominated the NCAA in a way no one else has. The only other player who came close was Bill Walton. Everyone knows Kareem dominated in the NBA as well, but Walton won an MVP and a championship before injuries derailed him. Both were better prospects coming out of college than Ewing. I'd argue Hakeem was an equal or better prospect as well.

ESPN didn't go on the air until 1979, so, I suppose it's hard to measure level of hype before they started screaming about prospects 24/7, but for instance:

Bill Russell won a pair of NCAA championships for the San Francisco Don's.
Oscar Robertson averaged 33.8 ppg in his 3 seasons at Cincinnati
Austin Carr still holds a number of NCAA tournament scoring records, and averaged 34.6 ppg in his 3 seasons at Notre Dame

So, yeah, just imagine if they were doing what they were doing then, now.

Ewing and his lone championship and his 15.3 ppg average were if anything over-hyped because of the rise of sports media and the run of big men in the draft.

And while he didn't have much NCAA or even NBA success, when it comes to hype and domination ... Wilt Chamberlain still towers over basketball in a way comparable to how Babe Ruth led MLB out of the dead ball era.

[NO-KG-AI]

It's crazy because while Patrick Ewing was a great great athlete prior to his injuries, he was playing college basketball at the same time that two guys that were clearly much more breathtaking athletes were playing,and one was of similar size.

[Backcountry]

Kareem is the GOAT high school and college player, nobody comes close to what he accomplished before he got to the NBA.

This is what I was going to say, Kareem dominated the NCAA in a way no one else has. The only other player who came close was Bill Walton. Everyone knows Kareem dominated in the NBA as well, but Walton won an MVP and a championship before injuries derailed him. Both were better prospects coming out of college than Ewing. I'd argue Hakeem was an equal or better prospect as well.

ESPN didn't go on the air until 1979, so, I suppose it's hard to measure level of hype before they started screaming about prospects 24/7, but for instance:

Bill Russell won a pair of NCAA championships for the San Francisco Don's.
Oscar Robertson averaged 33.8 ppg in his 3 seasons at Cincinnati
Austin Carr still holds a number of NCAA tournament scoring records, and averaged 34.6 ppg in his 3 seasons at Notre Dame

So, yeah, just imagine if they were doing what they were doing then, now.

Ewing and his lone championship and his 15.3 ppg average were if anything over-hyped because of the rise of sports media and the run of big men in the draft.

And while he didn't have much NCAA or even NBA success, when it comes to hype and domination ... Wilt Chamberlain still towers over basketball in a way comparable to how Babe Ruth led MLB out of the dead ball era.

From the ESPN article (which apparently nobody read):

"We asked our draft experts and analysts at ESPN to come up with a list of eight most-hyped prospects in the sports they cover since 1979, when ESPN was founded"

[dhsilv2]

I haven't seen anyone mention this but Ewing had a lot of injuries in college and his early years, even though he played a lot of games he'd basically play through injury. Nearly his entire career was played on two dodgy knees with one being particularly bad, and then he got a wrist injury which **** up his great jump shot.

We basically saw the floor of what he could've been, barring him just giving up and not playing at all. Ewing was one tough dude.

EDIT: Youtube channel won't let me share it but basically he played with a torn achilles in the playoffs.

Hmm...I recall some injuries, but I thought he was relatively healthy through 1990 and then early 90's the injuries ramped up. Am I off?

Ewing missed time for knee injuries in his first few seasons. As Jables said, he played a lot of games in years that followed but ones that many players would have sat out from. He played his whole career with knee braces and images of Patrick on the bench with huge ice packs on his knees was sort of a proto-meme.

Fair enough then. He was so explosive in that 1990 season, I guess i just assumed he was healthy. I knew by the dream team era he'd started showing signs of slow down.

[JonFromVA]

This is what I was going to say, Kareem dominated the NCAA in a way no one else has. The only other player who came close was Bill Walton. Everyone knows Kareem dominated in the NBA as well, but Walton won an MVP and a championship before injuries derailed him. Both were better prospects coming out of college than Ewing. I'd argue Hakeem was an equal or better prospect as well.

ESPN didn't go on the air until 1979, so, I suppose it's hard to measure level of hype before they started screaming about prospects 24/7, but for instance:

Bill Russell won a pair of NCAA championships for the San Francisco Don's.
Oscar Robertson averaged 33.8 ppg in his 3 seasons at Cincinnati
Austin Carr still holds a number of NCAA tournament scoring records, and averaged 34.6 ppg in his 3 seasons at Notre Dame

So, yeah, just imagine if they were doing what they were doing then, now.

Ewing and his lone championship and his 15.3 ppg average were if anything over-hyped because of the rise of sports media and the run of big men in the draft.

And while he didn't have much NCAA or even NBA success, when it comes to hype and domination ... Wilt Chamberlain still towers over basketball in a way comparable to how Babe Ruth led MLB out of the dead ball era.

From the ESPN article (which apparently nobody read):

"We asked our draft experts and analysts at ESPN to come up with a list of eight most-hyped prospects in the sports they cover since 1979, when ESPN was founded"

Nope didn't read and it's not what the OP asked, but I could smell that ESPN bias from a mile away.

[HomoSapien]

"Re: Was Patrick Ewing really the best NBA prospect of all time?"

Not even close.

Definitely not the best prospect, but I would say he was likely in the top 10 with Kareem, Walton, Lebron, Wemby, Duncan, Oden, Bird, and Johnson all being on the list as well.

[Cavsfansince84]

Personally I'd say it was arguable he was the best prospect of the 80's with Ralph, Hakeem and DRob. Part of the hype with Ewing was him playing at Georgetown, winning a title in 84 and then barely losing another in 85 but it also overlooks the fact that he was already 22 or 23 in his senior season.

[Lalouie]

NOT CLOSE

and proved as much as a pro

[Lalouie]

"Re: Was Patrick Ewing really the best NBA prospect of all time?"

Not even close.

Definitely not the best prospect, but I would say he was likely in the top 10 with Kareem, Walton, Lebron, Wemby, Duncan, Oden, Bird, and Johnson all being on the list as well.

oscar,,,shaq,,,thompson

if best is the criteria,,ewing is not on the list.

if you want ewing on any list with these guys the title should be "most ANTICIPATED prospect"

[jokeboy86]

Reading the article, I wanted to go with Lebron, but I do know there was the tiniest bit of skepticism on not if but how long it would take Lebron to become great in the league because he was still coming out of high school. And up to that point, it took even the great preps to pro players 3 or 4 years to look elite. Ewing was basically if Lebron went to college, stayed all 4 yrs, and his team was a contender every year. Ewing went to 3 national championship games(and probably should have won 3 national titles). Not to mention he was thought of as the most elite defensive prospect the league had ever seen. Most everyone thought Ewing would have a massive impact the second he took the floor in the league, similar to how people thought the same of Duncan.

[JordansBulls]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37996676/best-draft-prospect-bracket-nfl-nba-mlb-nhl-wnba

I just read this article and it says Patrick Ewing was the greatest NBA prospect of all time. Better than Lebron too apparently because of Ewing's college experience.

I wasn't alive in 1985 but it seems pretty weird to me that a guy averaging 15 and 9 in his college career was the greatest draft prospect of all time. Can someone who was alive shed some light on this? What did people think Ewing was going to improve on and develop as he entered the NBA?

They said it was the Russell era, Kareem era and then Ewing era. Didn't consider MJ nor Hakeem. So the hype on Ewing was real.

[SNPA]

nobody says this

Why did the thread continue after this post?

For realz…why?

[Mr Puddles]

He was incredibly heavily hyped, and a big part of the reason why the draft lottery was introduced

People may have forgotten that, back in 1984, NCAA basketball was a bigger sport than the NBA. More eyeballs. More money. More TV exposure. The Magic-Bird rivalry was just gaining traction, and Jordan was at UNC.

Patrick Ewing was better known to casual fans than all but a handful of NBA stars like Magic, Bird, Dr J, Kareem. I remember a conversation with a work colleague in Detroit who was a casual sports fan, around the time of the 1984 Celtics-Lakers finals. The guy had heard of Ewing and Kareem, but not Dr J or Moses Malone. Blew my mind, but it reflected who got TV and newspaper coverage.

Doing that "old 'n creaky" name justice with these pops stories.

Much appreciated that the old timers on this board share their first hand experiences from what the league was like back in the day. Always love reading posts like these. I'm guessing the majority of the people here started watching the NBA as kids in the 90s.

[tihsad]

Relative to time (obviously the hype machine grows every generation) I believe it went:
KAJ>>Wilt>>LBJ>>Shaq
Ewing was super sexy for that year, and maybe the most of the 80s. Had he not gone to the Knicks per "Sterngate" I don't think the hype would be that remembered.

[SomeBunghole]

Had he not gone to the Knicks per "Sterngate" I don't think the hype would be that remembered.

Or it'd be bigger. The 7 teams in the lottery all had equal odds of winning it. Maybe on some other team, Ewing does become a dynasty cornerstone. The Hawks, for example. They already had a 25-year old Dominique Wilkins who was about to lead the league in scoring that season(not to mention a 16-win swing), and also a young Doc Rivers and Kevin Willis. Add Ewing into the mix, and a Hawks team team that would win 57 games in 1987 may well be a contender.