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Did u really watch the 1994 Finals?
I don't get how David Robinson can be considered a bum for getting owned by Olajuwon, but Ewing can't.
In their 1994 matchup, Ewing sucked. He shot a pathetic 36% and scored 20 in only 2 out of 7 games. Those aren't even Olowokandi-level numbers. To me, it's unheard of that a bigman who is some supposed franchise player shoots 36% in the Finals.
Did u really watch the 1994 Finals?
What you got against Patrick?
David Robinson was and still is a bum.
It is what it is.
He isn't considered soft?
I consider him soft
I think david is considered soft because of the old spur colors
and mermaids
I do not think it had to do with Olajuwon outplaying david
david did not have help Olajuwon had 3 people helping him guard david
Patrick Ewing had moments of toughness, but overall he was soft. Not as soft as The Admiral tho.
After Ewing got destroyed by Pippen on that dunk, it was clear he'd never win a championship.
The only way the soft label applies is because David didn't care enough about basketball early in his career, as evidenced by the string of playoff upsets the Spurs suffered until the arrival of Tim Duncan. Since Robinson was in the top three in free throws attempted during most of his career, there's no denying his toughness. It's probably a label that was made up by the Scoop Jacksons of the world who think David isn't gangsta enough.
Olajuwon cared about basketball during the western conference finals, and that was only because he felt personally slighted, not because he gave a about basketball, the city of Houston, or his teammates. Hakeem was, for once in his career, brilliant in that series, and David indeed played about as well as anyone could have against him. Hakeem salvaged his career in that series, as he would probably otherwise have been remembered as a seven foot Gilbert Arenas.
So Hakeem wasn't brilliant when he led a team when Kenny Smith/Maxwell as starting backcourt to the le in 94?
He wasnt brilliant when he led an upset playoff victory over one of the greatest Laker Dynasties ever in 1986?
He wasn't brilliant when he torched Ewing and O'Neal in the Finals in back to back seasons?
He was only brilliant when he abused Robinson?
Some of you Spurs fans are just on crack, literally. Saying Hakeem "salvaged his career in 95" is literally about the dumbest thing I've ever read. This is like saying Shaq salvaged his career with his 4th ring last yr.
To the question at hand, Ewing was absolutely not a soft player. Yes, he was killed by Hakeem in 94, but so what?
Robinson's soft reputation comes for the same reason that KG and Webber are considered soft. None of these 3 players are guys with the cajones to take and make the big shot in a tight spot of a big game. Robinson is not considered soft because Hakeem killed him in 95. Even if that series never happened, DRob would still be labeled soft because of his failure to step up in the clutch against the Utah's of the world in the playoffs. Avery called out DRob for his lack of leadership in 95 as did Dennis Rodman.
Ewing came up short against MJ and Hakeem most of his career, but he battled like a warrior in doing so. DRob may have been a better overall player than Ewing, but Ewing wasn't soft.
DRob only shot 43% against Hakeem in 95. Hardly anything to crow about. Especially when he let Hakeem go for 56% against him by getting twisted like a pretzel on every headfake.
I mean after the 15th time biting on a headfake, maybe you should focus on the defensive fundamental of staying on your feet?!
If Ewing played with Tim Duncan instead of DRob in 99/03, he'd have had 2 rings as well.
Patrick was anything but soft. This is a stupid thread.
Two words: New. York.
You know, I never cared for Patrick's game. I liked him better when he was with Georgetown and early in his career. He got stuck on shooting jumpers and would not go low enough for me. He was not soft on Defense because he was tenacious at times but on offense, I would call him a little soft.
Hakeem was just awesome! Great to watch, he played with passion on both ends of the court. Great, Great Player! He lost interest when Shaq got in town. He hated to guard Shaq!
I agree with Lakeshow - I wasn't a fan of his game. But I don't think he was soft and I don't think he sucked. Patrick in '94, and David and Shaq in '95, had the misfortune of being in the way as Hakeem played at the greatest limits of his talents.
String of upsets? I don't agree. 1991 was most definitely an upset, David was injured for the 1992 playoffs against the Suns, in 1993 they lost to the #1 seed Suns (playing from the #5), in 1994 they lost as a #4 to the #5 Jazz (the #5 actually wins this matchup more often than the #4 does).The only way the soft label applies is because David didn't care enough about basketball early in his career, as evidenced by the string of playoff upsets the Spurs suffered until the arrival of Tim Duncan.
1995 was a classic upset, but they did lose to the eventual champions; the Rockets upset all four opponents that season, so it's hard to single out the Spurs in that instance.
1996 was in upset territory, but Utah was hardly dirt themselves: they would go on to push Seattle to seven games in the WCF, then win the West the next two seasons.
Looking at that history, I consider 1991 and 1995 to be upsets. Two upsets in seven seasons is hardly a string. Even if you want to throw in 1996, it still isn't a string.
To call either player soft is stupid. You cannot play the game at the high level those two did for as long as they did and be soft.
It's not even close to the dumbest thing that I've read on this forum (not even in the top 100
I think Ewing is never called soft because of the Knicks reputation in the 90s to being a bruising and physical team with guys who laid hard fouls like Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel, and Anthony Mason being the enforcers around Ewing. Even guys like John Starks and Derek Harper were noted for being physical defenders. That's why I think no one sees Ewing as soft cause the Knicks weren't soft.
Robinson is the softest NBA player to have led the league in blocks, rebounding, FTAs and dunks.
He also played soft in guarding Shaq in the low post with a floating particle in his back, holding Shaq to 22.5ppg in the series.
Soft indeed.
Good for him. He was still soft. Since when does blocking a shot make you "physical"? How physical was Mark Eaton?
I like how you avoided all the other ones and only picked the blocked shots part, what about rebounding, FTAs, dunks and most of all, guarding Shaq with a floating particle in his back?
BTW, I would have picked Manute Bol rather than Eaton if I was you. Eaton was at least as physical as Ewing, he was just slow.
Dirk gets lots of rebounds, are you willing to admit that he's tough?
shooting a free throw - the benchmark of toughness.
Harold Miner
And was this back when Shaq was young and overrated on Orlando, or when he was in Los Angeles and DR had TD to back him up?
say whatever you want Spurs fan, David Robinson was soft. Not to say that he wasn't a great player. He certainly was. But seeing him get thoroughly dominated and dragged around like a rag doll by Hakeem in the WCF solidified his reputation as being soft.
do you guys no head to head record with shaq vs david
david owned shaq with a good back
Ewing might not be called soft, but one thing he can be called starts with an "L" and ends with "oser".
Maybe it was one of the years I missed watching the NBA, when did he lead the league in rebounds? Because I never even recalled Dirk finishing in the top 5. And please don't compare a guy who has never averaged over 10 rpg to Robinson when it comes to rebounding.
I had a very hard time finding another soft player in this list (http://basketball-reference.com/leaders/TRB_year.html), please help me out.
I would imagine people gets fouled before they go to the line.
I found another list (http://basketball-reference.com/leaders/FTA_year.html), and I also couldn't find too many soft players there.
Dunking pretty = lots of dunks?
Again, could you let me know which year Miner lead the league in dunks per game, and what year Robinson won the dunk contest? Man, I really need to catch up with my NBA history lessons.
It was when Shaq was in LA, it really isn't that hard to find out which year Shaq was held to 22.5 ppg, and regardless of WHO was backing Robinson up, it doesn't change the fact that Robinson was guarding Shaq as the primary defender, in many cases 1-1 with a floating particle in his back.
And that brings the original question of why Ewing wasn't considered soft.
This post also let me into a new english word "soft", meaning being outplayed.
As in:
Dirk Nowitzki has an outplayed touch to his shot.
Charmine being outplayed.
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