Basketball is the only sport where it is even remotely possible since one player can have a huge impact. It is amazing though that it is worst in the NFL where players only play on one side of the ball and even on that side of the ball are one of 11 players who must execute for a play to work.

I was hoping you would say that. Defensive rebounds are valid not total rebounds as you show. The fact is that Ewing was by far the best defensive rebounder of the era by evidenced of his defensive rebound %. DR% is the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while he was on the floor. During the 1990's Ewing was in the top 5 every year except the year he DNQ because he only played 26 games. Hakeem was in the top 5 one time when he was a rookie and as his offense developed his defensive rebounding numbers dropped dramatically. Robinson was never better than 9th and a few years didnt make the top 20. And keep in mind that Ewing played with Oakley for some of that period when Oakley was strictly a rebounder and surely took away opportunities from Ewing.

Defensive awards and teams are nothing but popularity contests much like the Gold Gloves in baseball.

No one is saying that Hakeem wasnt great. But over his whole career he was not as good as Ewing was at the defensive end of the floor. If I had to choose which one was the better overall player I would probably say Hakeem. But the original statement was that Ewing wasnt in the same class as those other guys which is still laughable.

Offensively, I go with Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, Mourning.

Defensively, I go with Olajuwon, Mutombo, Robinson, Mourning.

Overall, I go with Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, Mourning.

I agree with Sniper in that the only way Ewing can be underrated is if you place him under #3. While Ewing may not have been overrated, I do think that if Olajuwon or Robinson had done the things they did in NY, they would have received far more accolades than they did. Look at how highly Ewing is regarded and he never won a title, never won a scoring title, never won an MVP. Imagine how Robinson would have been viewed in NY after he scored 71 and won a scoring title. Imagine how Olajuwon would have been viewed after he won a championship and the MVP.

Ewing was an all-time great player. He WAS the Knicks every bit as much as Jordan was the Bulls or Iverson was the Sixers. To suggest that they could have gotten anywhere near the levels that they go to without him is silly, IMO.

The biggest compliment to Olijuwan ( who was absolutely one of the all-time greats ) is that nobody ever says Houston made a mistake when they drafted him ahead of Jordan.

Still over their careers the difference is less than 1% which can easily be accounted for by having a good rebounding guard like Drexler as a teammate. Ewing had Oakley but Olajuwon also played part of his career with Barkley who stole tons of rebounds. Personally I think the best statistic would be percent of offensive rebounds that the person you are responsible for gets. If Ewing had a perfect boxout everytime and someone else on his team grabbed the rebound then that is far more valuable than what percentage he actually comes up with the rebound. Same with Olajuwon. Unfortunately no such statistic exists that I know of.

Olajumon played with Barkley for like ten minutes. Please.

Good argument there. I knew that and figured you would be sharp enough to bring this point out. As far as defensive rebounding % goes:

Times in the top five (led league)
Ewing-9 (1)
Olajuwon-3 (2)
Robinson-1 (0)
Mutombo-8 (2)

Also a good point about Oakley being there. That hurt his rebounding numbers but it also helped him in some ways. Oakley being there freed up Ewing to put more focus on his offense. Perhaps if he had to concentrate a little more on defense, his offensive production suffers a little. Also, Oakley often defended the opponent's top post players. Sort of like how Oberto does in SA now and allows Duncan to be a little more free and not pick up fouls.

Actually four seasons and those four seasons are the ones that pull his DRB% down significantly.

Where does Gheorghe Muresan fit into all of this?

In 95-96 he had a defensive rebound percentage of 24.7%, the same as Ewing's career average.

Much better actor than all mentioned

Haha, yeah thats about what I figured. Must be the reason I still have his rookie card in plastic

Hey the guy had skills. Billy Crystal was upstaged by him

This is not a really accurate post. True, Barkley did play with Olajuwon for four seasons. The last season though, Barkley only played 20 games so I wouldn't really count that season.

1997-53 games
1998-68 games (only started 41)
1999-42 games (50 game season because of strike)
2000-20 games

How much of an effect did Barkley have on Olajuwon's defense rebounding numbers? Obviously he had some but I don't think it's significant like you claim. Olajuwon ranked #1 in the league in DR% in 1989 and in 1990. He fell to #2 in 1991. He fell to #6 in 1992. Down to #8 in 1993. He was out of the top 10 in 1994 and was #10 in 1995. This goes along with what Cannon says. As Hakeem's offensive game grew, his defensive game slid. He was dropping further and further down the list in this stat category before Barkley even got there.

Eastern regional bias raises its head.

Honestly, if Robinson, Shaq, Duncan, Hakeem, Moses Malone, Walton (when healthy, not as a Celtic) played in NY... Gods. They would be considered Gods. Its regional prejudice which is understanable. Ewing was just flat out not at the level of these other players as a pro. No way. No how.

If Ewing had not played at Georgetown and done so well as a Collegian, he would not be thought of as highly. It is a given Ewing played hard every night, unlike Robinson. He should be admired for this. But talent wise... no way. No way. So I find it laughable.

This is coming from the same idiot that prounounced that Kevin Durant was not a great athlete. That he is/was a skinny kid who has a great fundamental offensive game.

Every time I go to a Wiz game Gheorge is there and is a super friendly guy. He has some PR job or something with the team. He often takes one of the floor seats behind the basket and I always wonder how anybody sitting behind him can see any of the game.

As far as the Ewing vs Olajuwon debate I really don't know what there is to argue about. Ewing was a better defensive center and anybody with eyes could tell you that. A shot blocker is not necessarily a great defensive player. Olajuwon was a better overall player because his offensive contributions were significantly better than Ewing. Hakeem could actually pass out of a double team every once in awhile. Ewing really was a black hole offensively. Hakeem dominated their head to head matchups but I am much too lazy to look up stats to support it.

Hopefully we can all agree that the 94 finals between those 2 teams was horrible. I don't care how close the series was the games themselves were worse than watching paint dry. Starks shooting like 2 for 50 in game 7 was brilliant especially since Riley refused to take him out.

The thought that Pat Ewing was not as good as these other guys because he played in NY is what is laughable. Ewing was a WAY better pro than he was in college. Kevin Durant is a tremendous athlete, just a bit slight. His fundementals are actually lacking. Do you ever watch the games?

By the way where is that tremendous Eastern Bias that glorify's all Knick players because they play in NYC. Can you name 2 players?

So wrong.
He has the catch and shoot down as
well as any pro. He gets 2 or 3 flippin rebounds
a night. He has very little lateral movement,
he is not strong. His feet are not quick.
What about him makes him a great
athlete compared to other NBA players?

How do you determine Ewing was way better as
a pro? How? Where was he drafted? How many
NCAA championships did he play in? How many NBA
championships? We really cant deal with numbers
without the shot clock... How?

As a college center, who was better than Ewing besides
perhaps Jabbar and Walton? He had a huge impact on the college
game. Huge. As a pro?