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Parallel careers Ewing and Olajuwon deserve happier endings
Updated: Thursday January 25, 2001 3:22 PM
There are very few, in this business or any other, who depart on their own terms, at the height of their capabilities, with their legacies firmly intact. And there are no two better cases in point than two very similar young men in the declining years of their NBA careers. Both came to this country from foreign shores, to become United States citizens and play for under the American flag. Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon are each seven feet tall and weigh 255 pounds, under their last official published measurement. Both are 38 years old, though one is eight months the elder. And both are sliding toward a very disturbing finish to their careers. Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing came into the league within a year of each other, in 1984 and 85, both first-round draft choices. Both have a career scoring average right at 23 points a game, and both were named to the NBA's 50th anniversary all-star team. Both put together 13 straight 20-plus scoring seasons before falling into disrepair. In the past three seasons, going into this year, Patrick Ewing had played just 126 total games, Olajuwon just 141, far, far less than their usual time. Ewing has two Olympic gold medals, Olajuwon one. But while the latter has two NBA championships, Ewing still awaits his first. And now in the winter of their discontent, they ponder their next, perhaps their final, moves. Ewing left the Knicks after 15 seasons for the greener grass of Seattle, only to find very little for him to do. There continue to be rumors he will either be dealt elsewhere or retire soon. Olajuwon, on the other hand, is in his 17th season with the Rockets after an all-American collegiate career at the University of Houston. The city has been his going on three decades, but now he contemplates being traded, at his request, somewhere else for the last hurrah. The frailties of aging, the price for pounding hardwood courts for so very long, have taken their toll on both men. Neither can dominate a game as they once could. And if the injuries have hurt, imagine the pride. They have both been giants in their industry, figuratively and literally, reduced now to bit parts. It is not the way these two, in particular, should spend their final days: two parallel careers destined for the same ultimate indignity.
Jim Huber is an Emmy award-winning journalist for Turner Sports. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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