October 27th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Today is a day of reckoning for two parties – the New York Knicks and rookie forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. specificially, today is the last day that the team has to make one final roster move to pare down to the league’s 15-man roster; the decision is due to be made around 6:00 PM (ET). And it appears to be a contest between Ewing, Jr. and guard Anthony Roberson for that final roster spot.
Ewing, Jr. is coming off a good effort on Friday as he scored 7 points, a steal and a block in only 9 minutes on the floor – which suggest that he could remain on the roster; but not so fast. There’s some factors other than Ewing, Jr’s effort that will come into play. There some public relations workings that could favor Ewing, Jr. – in other words, the name Ewing could very well put more butts into the seats at Madison Square Garden. And the possibility of some backlash is there should the Knicks waive Ewing, Jr.
There’s also the matter of economics; both Ewing, Jr. and Roberson have contracts (Ewing, Jr’s contract is worth $430,000 while Roberson’s is worth $850,000). Should Roberson make the team, the Knicks would have 6 guards on their roster, which indicates that Roberson would be on the bubble. But Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni seems to believe that the Knicks may be frontcourt-heavy. And team president Donnie Walsh said that a trade is very unlikely at this point. My guess is that for practical purposes, they will release Roberson and retain Ewing, Jr. 5 guards on a NBA roster is enough to get you through an NBA season.
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looks like you thought wrong