MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 1. 2nd Team: 6. All Star: 11. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 3.
Career Averages: 21 PPG/ 10 RPG/ 2 APG/ 1 SPG/ 2.4 BPG/ .505 eFG%/ .740 FT%.
Best Season: 29/ 11/ 2/ 1/ 4/ .551/ .875 (1989-90).
Postseason Averages: 20 PPG/ 10 RPG/ 2 APG/ .9 SPG/ 2.2 BPG/ .471 eFG%/ .718 FT%.
Best Postseason: 25/ 11/ 2/ 1.1/ 2.1/ .514/ .638 (1993).
Championships: 0. Runner-ups: 2 (#1 player on 1, injured before Finals on 1).
Why he's below Elvin Hayes: Weaker era or not, Hayes took 3 teams to the Finals and won a championship. Ewing only made it to the Finals once and was made to look bad by Hakeem once he got there. Unlike the other great centers of the 90s (and unlike Hayes), Ewing never led the league in anything. In fact, it's a little hard to find anything he was great in. Defense and shot blocking was his most elite skill, but he never made 1st Team All-Defense and only made 2nd Team 3 times. He was just a very good center during a period when truly great centers were in the league.
Why he's above the rest: I give him a bit of a break on the awards front because he was in the league at the same time as centers that I have ranked #9, #10 and #23. In another era, I think he wins Defensive Player of the Year at least once and makes 1st Team All-Defense and 1st Team All-NBA a few times. Maybe he's still not good enough to win an MVP or lead a team to a championship, but at this point in the list, most players aren't going to be that good. The only players ranked below Ewing who were the best player on a championship team are still active players. Ewing averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds for 9 consecutive seasons with 1 steal and 2.7 blocks per game over that span. This feels like the right spot in the list for a semi-dominant, very good center.
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