Patrick Ewing spoke at length about his coaching and playing career with Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The one thing he didn’t mince words about: he wants to coach the New York Knicks.

For all of the players who have donned the orange and blue, very few have achieved the level of greatness displayed by Patrick Ewing.

From 1985 to 2000, Ewing represented the Knicks in a number of tremendous ways. He simultaneously played the roles of ambassador, franchise player, and enforcer while leading New York to a pair of NBA Finals appearances..

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With almost everything but an NBA championship on his resume, Ewing is ready to return to New York and finish what he started.

In an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Ewing all but accepted a hypothetical job offer from the Knicks.

“It is what it is. Naturally, I would love to be back in New York. I still have a home there. In the offseason, I still get to go back there. My kids are still in that area. But, I guess it’s not meant to be. I’m happy where I am in Charlotte.”
The professional answer is only the tip of this tantalizing iceberg.

During the interview with Wojnarowski, Ewing echoed the sentiment of many a Knicks fan when he expressed remorse over not finishing his career in New York. That’s a big enough headline unto itself, but what Ewing said mere minutes later may have significant long-term ramifications.

After getting the professional answer out of the way, Ewing all but told Wojnarowski that he would accept an offer to be the next head coach of the Knicks.

“It is my goal to be a head coach. And, if the Knicks called me and offered me that position, or gave me an interview, I think it would be great. I’ve played there. I’m one of their best players. My number is in the rafters. I think it would be a great fit.”
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but that’s big.

Ewing isn’t wrong about how much he means to the organization. He’s the Knicks’ all-time leader in games and minutes played, points, rebounds, blocks, steals, field goals and free throws made, and Win Shares.

Walt Frazier and Willis Reed have powerful cases of their own, but one could easily make the argument that Ewing is the greatest player in franchise history.

There’s no guaranteeing that Ewing would be a successful head coach, but he’s been an assistant in the NBA since 2002. He worked with Jeff Van Gundy and the Houston Rockets from 2003 to 2006, Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic from 2007 to 2012, and is currently the associate head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

Coupled with his having played for Pat Riley, Ewing comes from quite the coaching tree.

During Ewing’s tenure in Orlando, the Magic made an NBA Finals appearance and a second Eastern Conference Finals trip. In 2015-16, Charlotte is 43-31, trailing the No. 4 seed Miami Heat by 0.5 games and the No. 3 seed Atlanta Hawks by just 1.5.

Thus, it stands to reason that Ewing is as close as ever to fulfilling his goal of becoming a head coach in teh NBA.

callmened wrote:

Finestrg wrote:I loved Pat, man. Don't wanna disrespect him--I just don't know if he has the aptitude to be a head coach. But he really needs to be involved here in some capacity.

agree 10000%

+1

Finestrg wrote:I loved Pat, man. Don't wanna disrespect him--I just don't know if he has the aptitude to be a head coach. But he really needs to be involved here in some capacity.

Yeah, not sure I'm comfortable with him as HC. He is certainly a warrior and had that "fire" to win. But he doesn't seem to have the intellectual discipline (or softer skills) to succeed as HC. Maybe he does, but I'm not too sure.

I don't fault him for leaving but he also wanted his money. He put the franchise in a tough spot. One would think we could have recovered but the combo of him leaving and Dolan taking a very active role is what set this franchise on the wrong path. If he retired and then became a coach with the team perhaps things would be different.

Problem is until Phil came nobody was willing to tear it down.

SupremeCommander wrote:he absolutely needs to be here. he would know better than most what types of personalities would succeed here and what types would fail. if he wants to stay on the coaching track I'd love to at least let him be an assistant coach here. he probably won't do that though. so I'd love to either let him coach Westchester with triangle guy being the OC, or I'd love to see him be Phil's underling. I think he'd make a great front office guy. Ewing's personality reminds me of Donnie Walnuts' or Glen Sather's, two guys that I think were relatively successful in NY

If I remember correctly, we offered him the HC job at Erie a few years back and he was insulted by it. I'd love Pat back in the family, but I think it's head coach or bust at this stage, as much as I'd love to imagine Pat being on Thibodeau's staff for our Knicks next year.

MaTT4281 wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:he absolutely needs to be here. he would know better than most what types of personalities would succeed here and what types would fail. if he wants to stay on the coaching track I'd love to at least let him be an assistant coach here. he probably won't do that though. so I'd love to either let him coach Westchester with triangle guy being the OC, or I'd love to see him be Phil's underling. I think he'd make a great front office guy. Ewing's personality reminds me of Donnie Walnuts' or Glen Sather's, two guys that I think were relatively successful in NY

If I remember correctly, we offered him the HC job at Erie a few years back and he was insulted by it. I'd love Pat back in the family, but I think it's head coach or bust at this stage, as much as I'd love to imagine Pat being on Thibodeau's staff for our Knicks next year.

Thats it in a nutshell Matt....

Patrick Ewing is a prideful dude... or is he just ignorant? If Pat wanted to coach the Knicks he should have taken the Erie job back in the day. I'm sure we could have given him a Herb Williams position. Ewing has too much pride to ever except that. That's just ignorant. If he did take those opportunities he might have been offered the job by now. Problem is there is a stigma for big men becoming coaches. Not many have ever been hired. I can only think of Kevin Mchale. The others have been role players like Phil and Rambis. So for the things that I said, Ewing shouldn't even be considered for an interview. He'snot goingtobe a system coach and Phil wants a system coach. We're running an organization trying to win a championship. This is not the movie Rudy.