| Tuesday, December 14
By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com |
|
NEW YORK -- Will he or won't he?
That's the question all Knicks fans are asking about Patrick Ewing, now
that he has returned from an Achilles injury. Will he change his game,
or won't he?
|  | | How much longer can Ewing compete before the next injury? |
"You guys can write about who's getting the shots," Ewing said the
other day. "We just need each other to win."
Mostly, the Knicks need for Ewing to stay healthy. As his track record
over the last two seasons indicates, he might not even be upright when
the playoffs begin. His busted wrist was a product of a collision with
Andrew Lang. But his Achilles woes underscore his age (37) and the fact
that in NBA years, he's a geriatric. Geezers like Ewing are more
susceptible to career-ending injuries the longer they play.
The most recent case in point: Charles Barkley. Six months Ewing's
junior, his body had been breaking down, too, until it finally gave out
the other night in Philly.
What does this have to do with Ewing? Everything. Anyone who's been busy
theorizing whether or not Ewing "incorporates" his game -- the word he
uses -- into Allan Houston's and Latrell Sprewell's games could just be wasting their collective breath, if not jumping to a major conclusion. How Ewing fits in could be a moot point in five months.
Heading into Tuesday's game at Houston, the Knicks have 59 more games.
That's 59 more times Ewing has a better-than-even chance of going down
with some sort of career-ending injury. As Barkley will tell you, don't
rule it out.
"What I told the guys afterward was, 'I'm just fortunate I was here 16
years, because this could happen every single night,' " Barkley said
after his career ended last week. "It can be over in one instant. When
you start having major injuries, that means your body can't take that
pounding anymore. With major injuries, it's sometimes because of all the
running and jumping we've done over the years."
Ewing starts this week with more than 40,000 minutes worth of pounding
on his body. "My leg feels good," he said after playing 28 minutes
against the Celtics Sunday.
OK, so for argument's sake, let's say he gets lucky and stays healthy
from here on out. You really think he'll look at Houston and Sprewell
the way that David Robinson has regarded Tim Duncan? Never.
"David Robinson hasn't changed his game," Ewing said recently. "He's
incorporated it into Tim Duncan's."
Robinson was smart. He saw that a) Duncan is the best player in all the
game, and b) all the pressure is on him. After several celebrated playoff
flops -- worse than Ewing has ever had -- Robinson was more than happy to demote himself from go-to man to second option.
If Ewing had Duncan alongside him, he'd willingly defer, too. But to
think that Ewing wants to lessen his role in crunch time, you have to be
under the mistaken impression that he regards Houston or Sprewell as
better late-game options. He'd never admit that, nor should he, either.
Houston and Sprewell haven't proven over the long haul that they're up
to the task.
Will he or won't he?
Rim Shots I
Charles Barkley plans on continuing to tutor Steve Francis.
Or is that torture him?
"Francis thinks I'm just an old man brow-beating him, but I used to be a
bad mother in my day," Barkley said. "Moses (Malone) used to rake me
over the coals every day. But he taught me how to work hard, and that
helped me more than anything."
In what amounted to his farewell address in Philly the other night after
suffering a career-ending knee injury, he used the occasion to again
remind Allen Iverson and other Generation Xers that they need to grow up.
"I want Larry Brown to keep staying on Allen," Barkley said. "The young
guys today, they take coaching as criticism. It's not. If Larry stays on
Allen, he's going to be a really great player. Steve can be a great
player, too. But there are two roads he can take. There's the slow road,
where you learn on your own. Or there's people who have already traveled
that road who you can learn from."
Francis can learn a lot from Barkley, even if Charles had to temper his
comments recently. His riding had gotten to the point where Francis told
team officials, "He's nothing but an (expletive)."
"A guy also needs a big brother to put an arm around him once in a
while," said Rudy Tomjanovich. "Charles really does care. It was all
well-meaning. But there are so many different approaches you can use to
reach people."
Since Barkley eased up, Francis has started to understand what he's
trying to do.
"It's been a baptism by fire," he said. "But coming from someone like
Charles, it's something I think I need. I'm trying to be a man in this
league. I respect what Charles is doing."
Keep listening, Steve.
Rim Shots II
The struggling Timberwolves are fielding offers for Terrell
Brandon. The Knicks and Warriors have already called, while Toronto
should be speed-dialing GM Kevin McHale any day now.
The Knicks would love to move Charlie Ward and Chris Childs if they
could upgrade the position. But Minnesota wants Allan Houston, which
is a deal-killer for New York GM Scott Layden. Some in the T-Wolves
organization are hoping that they can swing a deal to re-acquire Stephon
Marbury, but don't look for the Nets to do them any favors.
According to league sources familiar with the T-Wolves' thinking,
Brandon's lack of leadership is a big concern. Kevin Garnett also has
told team officials privately that he doesn't think that Brandon comes
to play on a nightly basis.
The Warriors offered Mookie Blaylock, but that was wisely rejected. The
Raptors, who offered Brandon a $54 million deal last summer, have a void at the point-guard spot. They demoted Alvin Williams and are playing Dee
Brown out of position.
The Lakers have added Juwan Howard to their power forward wish-list, headed by Miami's P.J. Brown. True, Howard isn't a power player, but the Lakers would play him at that spot. They recently
asked various spies around the country to check out Howard on a
game-by-game basis. Since Howard carries a $15 million pricetag this season, the Lakers would have to package Glen Rice with two other players to swing a deal. Phil Jackson can't wait to send Travis Knight out of town.
But it would also take Robert Horry to add up to enough money to land
Howard. If, that is, the Wizards want to part with him and take on Rice,
who will be asking for the $14 million maximum as a free agent this summer. Team insiders say Rice's demands are excessive.
The Sixers are shopping Larry
Hughes. Among the alleged offers are Nets' Kerry Kittles and Raptors'
Tracy McGrady. The player Larry Brown is really targeting to bring to town for Hughes is the Mavericks' Michael Finley. It might also take Tyrone Hill or another Sixers big man, but that's the guy Brown is zeroing in on. Brown thinks Finley would be a perfect fit with Allen Iverson.
Tim Duncan is thinking of signing short-term with the
Spurs, then seeing a) what happens to David Robinson and b) what the Spurs do to rebuild and upgrade their aging team in the next two to three years. It's a smart move by Duncan, since Robinson hasn't looked like himself during the Spurs' recent slide, possibly caused by recurring back woes.
Miami, still in the thick of the Rice sweepstakes, also wants to move Rex Walters and sign ex-Rocket Matt Maloney, who still has around $15
million coming to him. Maloney is thinking about doing some modeling if he
continues to be in limbo.
Stanley Roberts, bounced out of the NBA for using drugs, has resurfaced in Istanbul, Turkey, where the NBA drug rules don't apply. Efes Pilsen is shelling out about $500,000 for Roberts. Sounds like the sequel to Midnight Express.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com. |  |
NBA West: Charles, the other side
