Pat Ewing retires… for now.

By Sam Rubenstein

Patrick Ewing, the superstar NBA center that was once the New York Media’s negative pet project like ARod is today, has resigned from his post on the Houston Rockets staff. His reason is of course that he wants to spend more time with his family. Let’s see if he’s more Stan Van Jeremy or Roger Clemens. I can think of one team whose fans would welcome him back with open arms.

There’s been alot of debate on this site about whether Kobe is a selfish player or not and why he’s so stubborn, but he’s got nothing on Pat. This is a man who coming out of college was supposed to be “The Next Bill Russell”, and instead became a jump shooter. He was a good defensive center, but he’s remembered for revolutionizing the extra footsteps through the lane and the 20 foot baseline turnaround fadeaway. When the Knicks were becoming an elite team with a bunch of guys that could score (or at least intimidate the other team into letting them score), Pat still insisted that he needed the ball and he was the man. When he missed big shot after big shot in tight games, he still insisted he was the man. When his career was slowed down by injuries and the squad was loaded with Spree, Houston, LJ, and so on, Pat made it clear that he needed the ball and he was still the man. When the Knicks shaved their heads for the playoffs as a show of team unity, Pat refused. As a fan, the toughest loss I’ve ever had to absorb was the blown finger roll in game 7 of the ’95 playoffs against Indy.

Despite all that, how can you not love Patrick Ewing? Sure, maybe now Yao will go back to being a center that can pass the ball with a good feel for the game again, but the Rockets just got a lot less fun. I mean, Charlie Ward is taking a bigger role on the staff? Borrrrring. Come back to NY, Pat.