Posted by fishmike:

Pat was awesome.... plain and simple. You dont get to be a 50 greatest player via hype.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by gunsnewing:

25pts/13rebs/8 frick block shots in game 5! not even Duncan does that now and days! Man if only Ewing had Obi Wan Ginobili!

Just wondering--who do you guys think was the better player: Ewing or Duncan in his prime?

I'd say Ewing; he just unfortunately didn't have the supporting cast Duncan had. I bet the casual fan would say Duncan because he has the rings.

Posted by tomverve:

I'd say Duncan is better. I don't think Ewing did anything much better than Duncan, but Duncan's a lot more mobile and fluid than Ewing was back in the day, and he's easily the better passer.

Posted by tomverve:

I didn't say Ewing wasn't athletic-- whatever that is supposed to mean exactly. I said mobile and fluid. For a guy with his body type, I guess he was about as mobile and fluid as he could be, but he still wound up looking slow/awkward/deliberate at times with his offensive moves. Duncan is more streamlined.

As for the D, Ewing was a very good defender, but don't think he went around shutting down the likes of Hakeem or Shaq or Robinson-- they always got theirs. There also might be some selection bias from this series MSG is airing-- Ewing averaged something like 5 bpg for the series, which was much higher than his normal production.

All in all, I think you have to say Duncan is better. It's fairly close, but the final decision shouldn't be in doubt. Duncan is just that good. Here's a firmer argument that the qualitative one put forth above. Over the past 4 years, Duncan's put up an average PER of 27.0-- by comparison, Ewing's best 4 year stretch statistically (88/89 - 91/92) was 23.6, with a high of 25.8. Ewing was great, but not quite on Duncan's level.

Posted by tomverve:

I didn't say Ewing wasn't athletic-- whatever that is supposed to mean exactly. I said mobile and fluid. For a guy with his body type, I guess he was about as mobile and fluid as he could be, but he still wound up looking slow/awkward/deliberate at times with his offensive moves. Duncan is more streamlined.

As for the D, Ewing was a very good defender, but don't think he went around shutting down the likes of Hakeem or Shaq or Robinson-- they always got theirs. There also might be some selection bias from this series MSG is airing-- Ewing averaged something like 5 bpg for the series, which was much higher than his normal production.

All in all, I think you have to say Duncan is better. It's fairly close, but the final decision shouldn't be in doubt. Duncan is just that good. Here's a firmer argument that the qualitative one put forth above. Over the past 4 years, Duncan's put up an average PER of 27.0-- by comparison, Ewing's best 4 year stretch statistically (88/89 - 91/92) was 23.6, with a high of 25.8. Ewing was great, but not quite on Duncan's level.