May 2, 2011
WASHINGTON - If there's one thing Patrick Ewing, Jr. enjoys, it's some good banter. Whether he's on the bench, on the floor or just talking to an old friend, Ewing has never been afraid to express himself.
That's why Ewing had been enjoying the bantering back and forth he had recently with former Georgetown teammate Jeff Green.
Ewing, playing for the New Orleans Hornets, and Green, currently with the Boston Celtics, had been going back and forth about the chances of their teams meeting for the NBA Championship.
That dream ended on Thursday night, when the Hornets lost in Game Six of the NBA playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers, but Ewing will be the first person to tell you that it was hard to believe he was even in the position to think that he could be playing in the NBA Finals.
In late March, Ewing was playing with the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce of the NBA Developmental League. His team was getting ready to play the Reno (Nev.) Bighorn, the team he had played most of the season with until a trade late in the year sent him to Sioux Falls.
"I was getting ready for the game and I had a call from my agent (David Falk) and I thought it was a mistake, I thought he butt-dialed me, because he never calls me at that time of day," Ewing recalled. "He told me that something could happen and not to go anywhere."
Just a short time later, Ewing found out the Hornets were signing him to a 10-day contract and "within three hours," he was on a flight bound for Los Angeles, where his new team was getting ready to play the Lakers.
It had been a long road for Ewing, who was drafted by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft.
But getting the opportunity to play in the NBA with the Hornets was a dream come true.
"It has been cool, I can't complain," Ewing said over the phone earlier this week. "Just going through the whole process, going through (preseason) camp with the Knicks and not making it and thinking what my next move would be - do I go overseas, do I try the D-League.
"I'm lucky that I had good people around me - my father, my family, my agent - and we though the D-League would be the best route and that given a couple of circumstances, I could get a shot."
And a shot he got, though it didn't come when he expected.
When Ewing got the call, there were three games left in the D-League season. Because Sioux Falls was in last place, the playoffs were not an option, so he had shipped most of his belongings home.
"It was like a breath of fresh air," Ewing said. "I got the call up and I went from the worst team in the D-League to a team that was close to making the NBA playoffs. I'm sitting there and practicing with Chris Paul and watching them go against Kobe (Bryant) and I was cheering for my boys.
"I didn't come in expecting to start or expecting to get a ton of minutes. They were picking me out to have an extra body and possibly keep for the future. I came out trying to everything the way I've always done it."
And the way he has done things has always involved keeping a positive attitude - hustling, working hard, being one of the first guys up off the bench.
The life of a player on a 10-day contract, however, can be tough. Playing time can be limited and coming in late in the season like Ewing did made it even tougher. He made his first appearance for the team on March 30 in a win over Portland, playing two minutes.
"The last day of my 10-day was nerve-wracking and I didn't know what was going on," he said. "I didn't know if I'd be going home or staying. I didn't have the greatest practice, partially because I just didn't have a good day, but also because I wasn't sure what was going to happen."
It was shortly after practice that he was called to the office of Head Coach Monty Williams.
"I went to the office and they told me they were keeping me on," Ewing said. "I was living the dream."
From the time he joined the team, Ewing never felt like he was left out of things, like some players on 10-day contacts.
"I've heard a lot of stories about the guys (on 10-day contracts) and that they don't talk to you that much and they treat you different because you haven't been there," Ewing said, "but it wasn't like that for me. "
Ewing knew many of the players on the team or knew of them - he went to high school with Jarret Jack's brother and Aaron Gray was a former foe from his BIG EAST days.
"They took me under their wing," Ewing said. "In chapel one day, I was talking to Willie Green and Chris (Paul) and telling them how much I appreciated them.
"They're making the playoff push so they didn't have time to worry about helping me out, but if I messed up on a drill, Chris would the first guy to come over to help or someone else would tell me what needed to be done. They helped my learning process so it made it a lot easier."
Ewing appeared in only six more regular season games and made two appearances in the playoffs, but the experience of being called to the NBA was topped only by the Hornets making that great run against the Lakers in the playoffs.
"I knew my role," Ewing said. "I was there to be cheering on the bench and talking to them no matter what the situation was. If I got called on to play that was great, but I was doing the right things and keeping them motivated, like I've always done."
Now that the season is over, Ewing said he's unsure of what the future holds, but is hoping that he will continue to wear his jersey, number 22, for the Hornets next season.
"It's meant the world to me getting this opportunity," Ewing said. "Just to go from my first year and almost make it and then getting traded and getting hurt and having to sit out for almost a year, you realize there are circumstances you can't control.
"Going through the whole process and making it to where I was makes it all worth it."
By Mike "Mex" Carey
Sports Information Director
