SEATTLE – Patrick Ewing smiled and giggled more yesterday than in his entire 15 years in New York. Ewing claims that during this “fresh start” in the Pacific Northwest, he’s not going to be the grumpy old man that became his persona in the Big Apple.
And the charm was on yesterday as he was formally introduced to the small coterie of Seattle journalists during a light and airy press conference at the Sonics’ executive offices. When a Seattle columnist was introduced to him as Laura Vecsey, Ewing cracked, “You’re not related to Pete Vecsey, are you?” Actually she is.
Ewing even tickled the belly of this scribe and I have not exactly written him sonnets this summer. Ewing warned playfully “Don’t ask any negative questions.”
It is also believed Ewing yesterday did not turn down an autograph request from any sick Seattle children. OK, that will be the end of the zingers. No matter if you viewed Ewing as a complete jerk in New York, you had to feel good for him yesterday on the first day of his new career. It looks like he’s going to stop and smell the espresso in his new laid-back surroundings.
Not one Knick teammate has called Ewing since Wednesday’s trade. Ewing said Chris Childs phoned him last month when the original deal nearly came off but hasn’t heard from any teammate since. Fifteen years and not one phone call. It is the most telling sign why this Knick divorce had to happen (who gets custody of the ice?).
It was sweet for Ewing to watch yesterday’s video tribute from Sydney, Australia, with his new mates Vin Baker and Gary Payton tickled pink about his arrival.
Baker advised Ewing “Bring a lot of raincoats. I’m sure he’s got a lot of furs from New York. Take the furs and get some raincoats.”
Nothing was going to rain on Ewing’s parade yesterday, although he probably should not have been joking about championship parade routes as he did – the kind of boasts that always got him in trouble back home in New York.
Ewing is going to love it here, no longer saddled by championship expectations, no longer viewed as “The Franchise.”
Ewing kidded that the Sonics have to start looking for a parade site but nobody in this city believes the Sonics have a chance with L.A., Portland and San Antonio around. Fans here are just looking for a good show. Few believe he’ll last the full season without an injury, especially going up against the Shaqs, Robinsons, Divacs, and Sabonises four, five times a season.
Ewing, 38, is not viewed here as the lottery-pick messiah destined to lift Seattle from hell to the holy grail. He’s just the aging legend on his last legs whom the Sonics got for no more than Horace Grant. If it doesn’t pan out, so be it. The Sonics will have $20 million of cap room next summer.
When a Seattle beat writer wanted to know if he planned to change his personality, Ewing said, “I’m going to be the same person. It’s just up to you to get to know me. Don’t believe everything you read. There’s going to be times you’re going to want to do an interview and I’m not going to want to do it and when you ask me I’ll say no. You can’t judge me on what you’ve heard or read.”
He said he’s learned from past “mistakes.” Expect him to be more personable here, only because the demands on his time will be much less. There is no media crush and his occasional aloofness and surliness will be accepted. Payton rarely talks to the local press and has never been called on the carpet for it. There are no backpages in this town, just two broadsheet dailies without feisty reps.
Ewing was pressed on how he will fit in with the club, with Payton. Ewing all but said this was Payton’s Place. There was no stubborn “this is-still-my-team declarations. “I’m not going to get caught up into that stuff,” Ewing said. “I’ve already had enough of that in New York.”
He was asked to make a prediction on the season.
“I don’t want to get into making any more predictions,” Ewing said and shot a knowing glance over my way, toward somebody who has printed too many of his unfulfilled guarantees.
No, he still hasn’t lost any of his confidence. He called himself one of the “top five” centers in the game Friday on the John Thompson show. “I’m told I was too old, ancient,” Ewing said yesterday. “I still feel I have a lot of good basketball left in me.”
He believes this change will be his “Fountain of Youth,” calls the injuries of the past three years “flukes.” Ewing will be wrong about that. His injuries are chronic types and there’s a better chance than not he won’t be right for the playoffs.
Ewing said he wants to finish his career in Seattle. If he does, he’ll have to take a massive pay cut and maybe it will be worth it. Ewing won his only title in this city with Georgetown in 1983 at the blown-up Kingdome. He talked yesterday about “rekindling that good will.”
But Ewing did not want this divorce to find his first championship. He wanted it to find peace. And I think he’s found it.