Emerald City's New Gem

Greg Van Voorhis
Sports Editor

After 15 seasons of pumping Knick orange and blue blood, Patrick Ewing now bleeds Sonic green. In only the second four-team trade in NBA history, the Knicks sent Patrick Ewing to Seattle, and for the first time since the mid-80’s they will be entering the start of a new season without a dominating center on their roster.

In return for Patrick, the Knicks received Glen Rice and Travis Knight from the Lakers, Luc Longley from Phoenix, and cap fodder players from the Sonics, who most, if not all, will be cut before the start of the season. In addition, the Knicks also received the Sonics’ and Lakers’ lottery-protected 2001 first-round draft picks, as well as two second-round draft picks from the Sonics.

The Knicks also sent overpaid back-up center Chris Dudley to Phoenix for center Luc Longley, who, pending a possible future trade, will be New York’s starting center. New York also sent the rights to their first-round pick of the 2001 draft to Phoenix (see chart on bottom right of page for full recap of the trade).

Patrick Ewing will be joining current Dream Team Olympians Gary Payton and Vin Baker in Seattle, where he will have to beat Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers and former-Sonic Shawn Kemp of the Trailblazers to get to the NBA Finals for the third time in his career.

Patrick was asked this past off-season to make a list of teams that he would go to if the Knicks were to trade him. Since Patrick had a no-trade clause inserted in his four-year $68 million dollar deal, which he is entering the final season of, he would have to agree to any trade that the Knicks made involving him. Seattle headed that list, which contained seven other teams.

Patrick almost became a Sonic earlier this month in a similar four-team trade involving Detroit instead of Phoenix. This earlier deal would have netted the Knicks both Glen Rice of L.A., and Dream Team member Vin Baker of Seattle, but that deal was cancelled when Detroit pulled out 15 minutes before it was to be completed.

The aftermath of the failed trade was disastrous for the players and teams involved. Vin Baker was hurt that Sonics’ coach Paul Westphal would trade him for Ewing, who is ten years older than he is, and Gary Payton was upset that Seattle management had not told him of their desire to trade Vin, his best friend and star player for the Sonics, until after the deal had collapsed.

Meanwhile, in New York, Ewing was stewing over the way that the New York media and fans had reacted to the near-trade. New York newspaper headlines read, "Good Riddance" when it was thought that the trade had gone through, and fans called radio shows and expressed how happy they were to be getting the new additions. Patrick was disappointed that after he had given everything he had to the city that he called home, the people of that city did not return the love and respect that he felt he had earned and deserved. Patrick knew that it was time to leave, and with the help of his agent, David Falk, turned up the heat on Knick management to rekindle the trade.

After learning that Gary Payton wanted Seattle to take no part in a trade that would give away Vin Baker, Seattle management instead decided to discuss a trade in which they would send Horace Grant packing instead of Vin. After weeks of endless talks and trade proposition after trade proposition, they finally had a deal that worked, and on September 20th, it became official. Patrick Ewing was no longer a New York Knick, but a Seattle Supersonic.

Patrick will be bringing career averages of better than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game to the Sonics who have not had a true center since the days of Jack Sikma in the early 80’s, and for the first time since Gary Payton came aboard in 1990. Though Patrick is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, he recently turned 38 years old, and has not had an injury-free season in three years.

After breaking his shooting wrist three seasons ago, Patrick tore his anterior-cruciate ligament, also known as his ACL, and missed almost all of the playoffs during the lockout shortened season in which his Knicks made it to the NBAFinals only to come up two games short of the title against the San Antonio Spurs. And last year, he battled foot and knee problems, and was forced to miss a chunk of the season due to those injuries. So, it is fair to say that there is some amount of risk involved in bringing Ewing to an already thin Seattle front-court, which after Vin Baker and super star in the making Rashard Lewis, only contains players with little to no NBA experience such as third year player Jelani McCoy, and rookies Olumide Oyedeji, and the Argentinian League MVP Ruben Wolkowyski.

Look for the Sonics to surprise a lot of critics this season who believe that Patrick is too old to make a splash in a youth-oriented conference. Also, look for Seattle to add either Dickey Simpkins, a free-agent with size and championship experience with the Bulls, or possibly even Joe Smith, whose contract may soon be voided after his agent and the Timberwolves made an illegal, under the table deal with Joe that would give him his "Larry Bird rights", which would allow them to pay him upwards of $93 million if he reached certain incentives and settle for the mid-level exception of $2.25 million for his first three seasons in Minnesota. Also, Seattle is in the hunt for the services of veteran guard Brian Shaw, who won the NBA championship last year with the Lakers.

For General Information contact: tbj@lehman.cuny.edu || Last modified: March 27, 2002
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