Patrick Ewing Jr. Develops Under Father's Coaching

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Even coaching in a summer-league game, there was a father's pride in the eyes of Patrick Ewing.

His son is getting closer to playing in the NBA.

Although he never will compare in talent to his Hall of Fame father, Patrick Ewing Jr. had his second consecutive good performance Tuesday in the Orlando Pro Summer League, showing the kind of skills that could earn him a spot with some team next season.

And he's doing it with his father coaching him, which borders on history.

Never in the NBA has a son played for a father as the head coach in a regular-season game. This week with the Orlando Magic Summer League team is as close as anyone has come.



Share "Wouldn't that be great? I'm waiting for the day we do it,'' said Ewing. "I'm chomping at the bit.''

Father Ewing is going into his sixth season as an assistant coach in the NBA, still hoping to land his first head-coaching position, believing it is only a year or two or three away.

Son Ewing is playing after being out for 15 months rehabilitating from a knee injury that followed a season in the NBA Development League.

After being drafted in the second round by Sacramento in 2008, Ewing Jr. went to the Houston Rockets, then the New York Knicks, but he never got closer than an NBA exhibition game before going to the NBA D-League.

On Tuesday, he looked like an NBA player, scoring 17 points and hitting seven of his 12 shots, including two of four from 3-point range. As a 6-8, 240-pound small forward, Ewing looks both athletic enough and strong enough to hold his own against NBA players -- as long as his shooting remains this consistent.

He hit seven of 17 shots on Monday when he scored 15 points. He scored on fast-break dunks and mid-range jumpers. He was aggressive around the basket. After Tuesday's game, he spent an hour in the nearby weight room, making sure his body stays strong.

"The Summer League will help people see what I've been working on all this time,'' he said. "I'm a defender, but the big doubt was whether I could play offensively, and I think I'm proving I can do a lot of things I couldn't do before.''

Ewing never has played for his father before -- at least not officially -- and he has relished this opportunity to do it with the Magic with his father serving as his coach.

"Usually when your dad is in the stands, you can just ignore him the whole time, but when he's on the bench, you have to listen to everything he says,'' Patrick Jr. said. "He's hard on me at times. I know he'll call me tonight and tell me about all the things I didn't do, and what I need to do better. But that's what he's supposed to do as a father, and as a coach.''

Ewing, through his own career, wasn't around very often to coach his son, doing it mostly by long distance. Throughout Jr.'s college career -- when Ewing was traveling as an assistant coach -- father mostly watched tape of the games, then coached by phone calls.

"This has been great coaching him now. I'm enjoying the fact that he's doing well, not only offensively, but defensively,'' father said. "I've always been trying to coach him, but it was mostly through phone calls in the past. Now I'm on him all the time.''

Although Ewing came into the league with considerable fanfare as the No. 1 pick of the Knicks and had a long and rewarding career, he still has a sense of his son's battle to prove he belongs.

Father is going through some of the same frustration in his quest to become a head coach.

"I have job in the league, so I'm not too worried about that now,'' he said. "But I don't subscribe to the 'patience theory.' I'm not into that Aristotle philosophy that patience is a virtue. I see the talent in the league today, and there's no way my son shouldn't be in the league. He's talented enough. There should be a job in the league for him now.''

Magic management liked him enough to sign him for the Summer League, but he has no contract for this season. Depending on what else the Magic do in free agency, they may invite him back to training camp with only a make-good promise.

"There's never been a day in my life that I didn't dream of playing basketball. At first it was in a Knicks uniform because that's where my dad played,'' Patrick Jr. said. "To do it here, where he's at now, would be great. A chance to work with him every day would be special for both of us.''