The Tape
Was Patrick Ewing better than Joel Embiid?
Patrick Ewing, 1985-2002, against Joel Embiid, 2016-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Joel Embiid is the bigger scorer: 32.9 a game in 2022-23 against 30.5 for Patrick Ewing in 1989-90. That is a real gap of 2.4 points, not an era illusion — Joel Embiid's league averaged 114.7 and Patrick Ewing's averaged 107.
Joel Embiid is the passer: 4.2 assists a game to 2.2, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Patrick Ewing: A 21-and-10 center for 15 years who was the second-best player in almost every series that mattered. Joel Embiid: The highest scoring average by a center since Chamberlain, attached to the shortest availability of any MVP.
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