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After a Hall of Fame NBA playing career, Patrick Ewing has built a resume as an assistant coach for four teams over the last 13 seasons. Currently serving as associate head coach with the Charlotte Hornets, Ewing has expressed frustration with a lack of head coaching opportunities over the last few years.
It should only be a matter of time before Ewing gets his first head coaching opportunity. But he has thrown his hat in the ring to coach the New York Knicks, the team he spent the best of his playing days with.
Via the New York Daily News:
“You know, this is a great fit for me. I have my number up there (in the Garden rafters). I still live in the area,” Ewing said. “If I get an opportunity for an interview I’d be happy.”
“I’ve been doing this, what, 13 years now? I see people who don’t have the same amount on their resume as I do and still have gotten opportunities,” Ewing said Wednesday before the Knicks hosted the Hornets. “It is what it is. All I can do is continue to work, continue to get better at my craft, and hopefully one day somebody will give me an opportunity and I’ll show that I’m ready.”
Knicks president Phil Jackson reportedly would prefer to elevate current interim head coach Kurt Rambis to the full-time position, so any sort of search that would include interviewing Ewing or others looks unlikely. A different Knicks front office regime offered Ewing a D-League head coaching job a few years ago, which former teammate Charles Oakley called “embarrassing” and a “kindergarten job” in an interview at that time.
Ewing could easily be considered a better head coaching candidate than Rambis is or ever will be. But Jackson clearly wants a puppet head coach that will only think inside a box he creates, which automatically limits the pool of candidates. While Ewing’s desire to return to where he made his name as a player is admirable, his coaching career will be better off if he avoids involvement with the Knicks right now.
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