How Good Was Patrick Ewing REALLY? 

If Patrick played in the modern NBA, would he be the league’s best Big Man? UPDATE: Next up in the How Good series is Clyde Drexler, and a lot of you seemed to like my “Great Games for Isolation Times” video, so I’ll be doing a part 2 for that one. Stay safe friends. Hit me up on instagram on you need a buddy to chat with during all this quarantine time. instagram.com/jonnyarnett/

Ewing made the knicks relevant. Maybe the greatest accomplishment of all.

One important thing you forgot was that he was one of the best shots at the center position back then. Most elite centers wouldn't even try taking a midrange jumpshot unless they were wide open. Not Ewing. If he played today the media wouldn't shut up about his jumpshot.

Most underappreciated center of his era.

Patrick E. was so good that aliens from space specifically stole HIS talent to take over the world. That’s how good he was.

Ewing played in an era that was loaded with great centers like Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaq, Robert Parrish, Alonzo Mourning, Mutombo, and others. I put him as a top 10 center ever.

Ring or no Ring as a life long Knicks fan I love that guy.

As a bulls fan I always had the utmost respect for Ewing...7 footer with a face up game and post game....great touch.. good first step. Wish he didn’t have those knees.

He is one of the 50 greatest players of all time. A stand up guy, a tireless worker and outstanding teammate. Never played with another star who could help him beat Jordan or Olajuwan.

Ewing was an absolute BEAST in Georgetown.....and with the Knicks too

I believe Patrick is one of the great centers in history. A warrior mentality that bought his game every night.

Patrick Ewing Was My Favorite Basketball Player. He Had Nothing To Feel Ashamed Of And He Deserves The Utmost Praise And Respect. He Was Simply One Of The VERY GREATEST Centers Of All Times Period!!!

Thank u for this vid, tremendously disrespected and underrated, Pat Ewing is a HOF center!

Patrick did so much that was not reflected in the stats. He MADE the Knicks into a contender. He was a warrior, played through injury, never gave up. Huge love and respect for the man and the player.

Ring or no ring, Ewing is one legend. One of the BOATs

Patrick ewing was amazing very underrated, I admire his loyalty sticking with the knicks.

We all miss the big guy. Warrior!

I just want to give a big shoutout to John Starks who went 2-18 from the field and 0-11 in Game 7 of the 1994 Finals in a 6 point loss... If that was say Dwyane Wade, Kyrie, Bosh or Kevin Love, and LeBron lost a championship because of it, they'd never hear the end of it........ If Starks doesn't try to be Steph Curry two decades before Steph himself, the Knicks would've won that championship, and people would look WAY differently at Ewing. Facing the greatest player of all time year-in-and-out in the playoffs sure doesn't help your chances of winning neither :/

He was outplayed by Hakeem, but he still took him to game 7 and almost eliminated him twice. Out of all the centers in the 90s who got smoked he did the best against Hakeem. Had he hit those shots, all of history would have been re-written.

I started watching NBA games during the 1992 playoffs with the Knicks - Pistons series. I fell in love with the Knicks rough and tough play and that is the reason i became a Knicks fan. I used to play hard nosed defense because of this team. My first good pair of basketball sneakers were the Ewing baseline. Along with Jordan and Olajuwon, he was my favorite player during my high school years.

Ewing was one of the best! I loved to watch him play.

I simply loved watching Patrick Ewing play. I still hurt inside when I think about the missed finger roll, but honestly, he embodied the sentiment that 1 doesn't beat 5. I'm glad he was on my team. Truly an excellent basketball player.

Severely underrated! I grew up right down the road from him in Cambridge (Boston) MA. Also a fellow Jamaican. Salute!

Ewing played in an era loaded with great centers. He was one of my favorite players growing up I wore his shoes as a kid. I think you can make the argument that if he played with another all-star caliber player like Hakeem, David, and Shaq did minus the knee problems Pat probably would of won at least one championship. It's a shame that the Knicks didn't beat the Spurs in 99'.

If Patrick Ewing plays in todays nba he will have 40 points per game!!!

I loved his game. In an era with great Centers

The only reason he doesn't have a ring is because they never gave him a legitimate superstar teammate. Every team that won a ring had at least 2 superstars. otherwise he is up there.

I think his greatness is evident in retrospect: he never had another star-caliber teamate like Pipen or Drexler yet the knicks only lost to the Bulls in close game 7s and were a shot away from beating the Rockets in the finals, so he must have been a lot better than the credit we give him today. of course, Hakeen and Shaq are better than him. but who else?

He put the New York Knickerbockers on the map. Even though he fell short all those years. He was very fun to watch and one of the smoothest shooters to ever play bball.

He had a good supporting cast but never had someone to truly take over when he had an off night. John Starks was decent but come on. He needed a sidekick to average 20 a game.

Ewing schooled a young Shaq in the early 90s a ton of times. He could shoot mid and long range shots.

Top 5 centers that ever played the game

Ewing and Willis Reed actually have similar playstyles. Both were big, strong, and tough centers who were also extremely mobile and surprisingly fast for their size. They were dominant near the basket but could also beat you with their excellent mid-range game. Dominant on defense and could frustrate their opponents into making bad shots, which they could either block or rebound.

Just look at these skilled centers that played in those days. Amazing talent, not just strength and speed. Ewing was my champ, even though he never won the ring, i loved those Knicks, along with Alan Houston, Charlie Ward and Anthony Mason. Loved those guys. I truly miss the old NBA. I think it was much more about skill back in the days.

Detroit fan but Ewing was my favorite player of all time.

For all the shame Ewing gets for the 94 Finals, he does constitute the best challenge Hakeem got in 94 and 95 playoffs and he forced Game 7 in a historically tight series. New York actually scored more points in the series than Houston and for Ewing’s offensive struggles he put on maybe the most impressive defensive performance ever by a Center against the eras best Center and best defensive center Hakeem. Ewing out blocked and out rebounded Hakeem in the series. My 2 cents. Ewing gets exaggeratedly bad press for that series. Ironically he was as good as Bill Russell in that series but he didn’t play with four other 20 pt scorers. 1994 Finals Hakeem 26.9 pts, 9.1 rebs, 3.9 blks Ewing 18.9 pts, 12.4 rebs, 4.3 blks Hakeem 50% shooting , Ewing 36% Ewing’s greatest attribute is how hard he played and that’s why @ 18.9 pts and 36% shooting he could still draw his Knicks to within 7-8 pts of a Game 7 in the finals. He still held down the paint. He didn’t get embarrassed by Hakeem.

Underrated asf

Thank you for coming through with some new content during these bad times! 💯

Highly polished scorer from inside and outside, bigger than Embid with athleticism of AD. He had no weaknesses. Speaking for Detroit... nothing but respect. He slides into top 10 all time Centers.

I still believe that Ewing is better than David Robinson. Robinson may be greater because he has his championships with Duncan, but Ewing’s overall offensive skills and ability were better than Robinson’s. And Robinson had terrible moments in the playoffs while Ewing stepped up in every series.

One of my fav bigs of all time def underrated!

Ewing was a great center, who played in an era loaded with dominant centers

Loving this one thanks for sharing very important information giving thanks blessed love to all knowledge is power hopefully everyone pays attention keep up the good work 🙏🙏🙏🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲💪💪💪

As a Chicago Bulls fan and someone who circled every must watch game the Bulls played , I can tell you that games against the Ewing led Knicks were always must watch games for me. He was one of the best centers I ever watched. The rivalry between the Bulls and Knicks in the 90's is the best rivalry in NBA history.

He was my favorite player growing up and was very underrated

100% Ewing is underrated. Maybe he wasn’t quite Shaq or Hakeem but he wasn’t that far off. He did a lot despite not having a legit 2nd option, with all due respect to Jon Starks

I grew up and still am an Orlando fan, and some of those Knick-magic games in the old Atlantic division were epic. Ewing is one of the greatest centers, but also players to ever play the game. He was named to the 50 greatest Team in 1997 at the all star game in Cleveland for a reason. A lot of players were clocked from winning a title by Jordan and Dream. Doesn’t mean they weren’t legends themselves. Reggie, Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Gary Payton (and no, that title in 06 as Miami’s 12th man doesn’t count here) , just the name a few.

Pat is my dude followed him since 1981 McDonald's all American game with MJ Ed Pinkney Chris Mullin etc. Georgetown was my squad and Pat was my guy. Big Moses is my fav center Big Pat is second and he is underrated… nice vid

Johnny the research you do for your videos is impeccable, that 92 Willis Reed like game from Ewing is one I never knew about. Video suggestions: All time starting 5 who never won championships PG-C All time starting 5 "what ifs" i.e. D-Rose, Penny, Walton... Just food for thought, keep em coming.

Some more things to consider about Ewing's career: -He played four years at Georgetown, so he was 23 when he entered the league. His athleticism and mobility were already limited by the time the Knicks became a contender in the mid-90s, when he was in his 30s. -He was considered the NBA's top center by most until he was outplayed by Hakeem in the '94 finals. His selection as the starter on the Dream Team over Robinson validates that. This has a lot to do with the trajectory of Hakeem's career. Ewing's Georgetown team beat Hakeem's Phi Slamma Jamma Houston team for their one NCAA title. At that time, Ewing was more polished and skilled and Hakeem was raw and athletic. Over the course of Hakeem's NBA career, his skillset developed and he became a better player. That was fully on display in the '94 Finals and that ultimately defined their legacies. -Coaches and playing style influenced Ewing's career. The Knicks looked on the road to contending in 1989, when Rick Pitino was their coach. He played an uptempo style and at that time, Ewing was capable of running the floor. Pitino found a PG in Mark Jackson, an enforcer in Oakley, and surrounded them with 3-point shooters...this is a model that may have worked had Pitino stayed. Unfortunately, he left, and they kind of fell apart. Riley was hired in '91 in a last-ditch attempt to realize the promise of Ewing's career, and re-invented the team in the grinding, slow-down style that is most associated with the Ewing Knicks. -I wouldn't consider Ewing and Shaq to have been "in the same era." Ewing was 30 when Shaq was a rookie. He was 38 and in his last Knicks season when Shaq won his first title. It would be like saying Bird and Jordan were in the same era...or Jordan and Kobe. There was overlap, but the arrows were pointing in different directions. Ewing's contemporaries were Olajuwon and Robinson. All three were excellent centers. Olajuwon proved to be the best.

P. Ewing was the Greatest Center in NBA from 1989 to 1992.

There was no greater entertainment in my life than when i was watching Knicks 90’s playoffs. Not a fan of basketball anymore, but back then Ewing was my all time favorite player. Oakley, Mason, Derek Harper. Really tough team. Wish i still had that Ewing dream team jersey!

My favorite player growing up. Met him at a book signing in the late 90s when I was probably about 13. He was super nice!

He was a top 5 center every year during the greatest era for centers ever, he’s top ten all time

Am I the only one who noticed we got a PATRICK Ewing video on Saint PATRICK’s Day??

In the early and mid 90’s he was only 2nd to the Dream with the Admiral a close 3rd...

Patrick Ewing was the only chance for The Knicks to win a ring but he didn't have another star player to help him. He us still my favorite Knick after Bernard King and Walt Clyde Frazer

Glad u made a video on Pat

Love the video

MY FAVORITE ALL TIME CENTER

I agree that Ewing is historically underrated. He's top 10 all-time at his position.

Loved watching this guy play. All-time favorites.

Man your intro is great

When we talk about coming up clutch with Patrick Ewing we have to bring up the 1990 playoffs. He dropped 44 on Bird's Celtics in game 3 and had a great all-around game 5 to defeat the Celtics 3-2 coming back from being down 0-2. The next series against the eventual champion Pistons, he dropped 45 in game 3 to give the Knicks hope in that series

2:22 was such an unintentionally hilarious block, just this big ass dude flying in to stop your goals

Jonny speaks the truth!

also a truly dominant college player. he never really showed that intimidating persona that he had at georgetown for some reason, he truly terrified players and coaches for that matter. i think people were expecting more from him when he came to the nba and all he gave them was one of the 10 best players at his position.....so yes, underrated.

Love those Knicks teams. Ewings case as good as he was made difficult that he was often not a top 3 center in league arguably for much of his career (Shaq, Dream, Admiral providing much competition). A good era for center play.

He is a legend

From the moment i heard that Ewing Never (!!) played with another Hall of Famer i respect him more. All of that despite being Hall of Famer member do not mean being good but only famous nowadays with criteria being changed without nba openly admiting this ...

ONE OF MY IDOLS AND HEROES

Watching highlights from the 90s shows how much more physical and interesting the game was. I can’t stand watching the game now; awful D, settling for 3s, hand checking is a foul? OMG!!!! When I play 2K classic teams against anyone I always use a 90s team and murder with them.

His flat top and mustache are legendary.

One of the greatest players of his era and certainly breaks into the top 5 of all-time centers in NBA history!

Ewing was a great Center and very underrated. He is the reason I started watching basketball and in middle school I routinely worked on my fade away and shot blocking by trying to imitate him. If it now for Jordan (and John Starks) Ewing would have had multiple championships.

ONE OF MY IDOLS

One of my all time favorite centers.

1st video of yours I've seen. Pretty good. I'm just happy you don't use an auto tuned weird computer sounding voice program thingy. Most NBA channels sound like Apu with auto tune, and know more about the game of cricket than basketball.

Top 5 C's ever. If you won a championship he would be a goat. Should be mentioned he never left the Knicks chasing a ring when he could have at any time.

Great video on an often overlooked player. He was unfortunate that his career was riddled with 2 all time great centers in Olajuwon and Shaq, then also many elite other centers as Robinson Mutumbo and Mourning. I probably missed one or two more. So he just played in an era with so many great centers. Ewing was a very very good center who was absolutely elite against most opposition. I guess the one criticism I would have, is his performances against other elite or above centers. He always struggled With Hakeem and Robinson, and battled and often just edged out other great centers of his time. He was great but unfortunately his lack of finals success will always haunt his legacy

Pat Ewing was simply fantastic center, one of the all-time greats. His accolades are all well deserved and his stats only punctuate that. Anyways, his only shortcoming as a player was that he played against three better centers of that era: Olajuwon, Robinson, and Shaq. And, unlike them, Ewing was never paired with another superstar, and that hurt his career very much. Let's summarise: Admiral had Tim Duncan, Hakeem had Clyde Drexler (and Sampson before), and 90% of Shaq's success comes from his pairing with gifted guards, such as Penny Hardaway and later Kobe Bryant. Pat was at one time paired with John Starks, but he never lived up to his potential. So, Pat was victim of circumstances, if he came to NBA at any other period, he would be celebrated way more than he is now. But, that doesn't change the fact that he was one of the greatest centers that ever graced the court, and the one that would surely come handy to the Knicks nowadays...

He was one of the most underrated centers of all time

Ewing was way ahead of his time being a center who could shoot lights out. Truth is he is the greatest knick of all time and unlike some big shot league icon he never cried about doing it alone or needing help. When a man like shaq breaks down thinking about how great Ewing was that's all that needs to be said. Maybe in this modern soft nba he would have averaging 40 points a game and shooting 3 pointers and as for him being too old at 36 let's be honest here when the spurs heard that Ewing was out of that 99 finals series they knew they dodged a major bullet. Because an old Ewing bad knees and all would have destroyed rookie Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The spurs of that squad know they didn't have an answer for even an old Ewing because I remember so many times that Ewing would just get the other teams best big man or big man stopper into foul trouble and by the 3rd quarter that man had fouled out. He was unstoppable even in his old age but he just never had the back up he needed and when the Knicks finally had some back up for him he got injured.

i don't think you will find a better jump shot in the game, truly a joy to watch. Maybe Jordan comes close, yes Ewing was really awesome when he was in form, he could do so many things, the hook, the fade away, the dunk and was ultimately just an inch away from the title in 1994. Unfortunately for him he peaked in an era where Jordan was in his prime, that's hard to overcome. I would say they made it to the finals in 1994 because Jordan was absent ... but no discredit to Ewing, probably one of the finest players in the history of the game.

I can watch Johnny arnett videos regarding historic teams and players.all day! Connie Hawkins was an amazing player that stood out in my eyes as a kid when the NBA early 70's ran the one on one games. No one has covered those one on one games in a video. Back to Connie Hawkins as the years go by he's no longer in the top 50 players of all time. I would love to hear more about his betting scandal in college his ABA and NBA career

one of my idols and heroes

My mom's a knicks fan watched alot of 90s knick games

Patrick Ewing is the best pure shot center of his day. He had as good a mid range shot as any guard in the 90’s. Ewing is the reason I loved watching basketball in the 90’s. I know people say that he played in the golden age of centers but he was truly one of a kind.

The best center in the NBA from 1989-1993

Bro you have an epic beginning to your show, but you need to switch up the clips at SOME point! Shoutout Jonny Arnett you da man!!

Pat Ewing obviously is one of the best centers that ever played ball

My favorite player of all-time.

i JUST got a Patrick Ewing jersey lol

As a Sixers fan from back in the day, I saw a lot of Patrick Ewing. To be honest, watching him at Georgetown, I thought his NBA career would be even better. However, there have been so many outstanding centers in the NBA. He is in the top 10 of all-time. I think he is rated where he should be....but not underrated.

Really good!

11time all star and rookie of the yr and gold medal winner on dream team and went to 3 college championships at Georgetown, winning 1. Brought Knicks to postseason 13 of 15 yrs with Knicks

Should've entered the 1984 NBA draft. Him and Drexler on Portland could've been a monster tandem.

The greats play hard. An thats what this guy did. I use to watch him every night like a father clocking in for work.. putting in a honest days hard work. Leading by example. I understand when kobe died y ppl were so sad.. patrick ewing was my father growin up an i would feel the same way if he passed esp. So young

Ewing is an all time top 10 center.

my all time fav player