Ewing: One of the greats

Pat Ewing in his Knicks pomp

By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

With the retirement of Patrick Ewing, the NBA loses another of the great generation of stars who dominated the league from the mid-1980s through the 1990s.

Like his friends and rivals Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Karl Malone, Ewing was a franchise player, good enough to build a team around.

  Ewing in brief

Born Kingston, Jamaica, 5 August 1962

Moved to USA aged 11 with parents

1984 NCAA champion with Georgetown Hoyas

First draft pick by New York Knicks in 1985

NBA All-Star 11 times

All-NBA First or Second Team honours seven times

All-time leader in Knicks history in 11 different categories

Switched to Seattle Sonics in 2000 and Orlando Magic in 2001

Named as one of greatest 50 players in NBA history

For 15 seasons he held the New York Knicks together, taking them to their first NBA Finals appearance for 21 years in 1994 but never quite having the personnel around him to go all the way.

As with any player of his stature, it's easy to lose sight of Ewing's achievements in the sheer number of records he set.

To pull out two of the more obvious honours, he was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame in 1996, and was always going to be on the 1997 list of the greatest players in NBA history.

The potential was obvious from the moment he was named his high school player of the year.

An NCAA championship followed with Georgetown in 1984, launching him into an NBA career that should have led to similar championship honours.

Ewing in action for the Dream Team in 1992

His impact was immediate, his form good enough to win him the rookie of the year in 1985-86.

In those 1994 NBA Finals against the Houston Rockets he was faultless, establishing an NBA Finals single-series record for most blocked shots with 30 and matching the Finals single-game record for most blocked shots in Game 5.

He was named an NBA All-Star 11 times, including a span of 10 straight seasons from 1988-97, and earned All-NBA First or Second Team honours seven times

Ewing's scoring touch from distance was a delight, taking him well clear of the 24,000 career points mark, but he was more than just a points machine.

He led the Knicks in scoring and blocked shots in every season from 1985-6 to 1996-7, and led the team in rebounds from 1985-6 to 1987-8, 1991-2, 1992-3 and 1994-5 to 1996-7.

Some of his franchise records are unlikely ever to be matched.

Ewing leads the Knicks in all-time games (1,039), points (23,665), minutes (37,586), field goals made (9,260), field goals attempted (18,224), free throws made (5,126), free throws attempted (6,904), rebounds (10,759), steals (1,061), blocks (2,758) and 40+ scoring games (30).

Ewing has outlasted many of his old rivals

In simpler terms, he was also a double Olympic winner, as an amateur in 1984 and as part of the first - and best - Dream Team in 1992.

The man himself is characteristically modest about his on-court achievements.

To him, nothing beats graduating from Georgetown with his Fine Arts degree. That had been the dream of his late mother Dorothy.

Back to the future

The good news for hoop fans is that there is another Pat Ewing on the horizon.

His 16-year old son, who stands 6 ft 8 in, is the spitting image of his father facially.

He also shares some of his gifts in the paint.

Last season, he averaged 13.8 points and 8.5 rebounds for his high school, and was named defensive player of the year.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?