Patrick Ewing knows a thing or two about great Knicks teams and he believes the current squad has a chance to contend for an NBA title.
Ewing, who was being honored with the inaugural Johnny Bach Award at the Fordham University men’s basketball tip-off dinner, said that the Knicks’ veteran-heavy team could be the last one standing come June.
“Like everyone, even [Coach Woodson], has said, no young team has won a championship,” Ewing said. “I think that the guys that they brought in are quality guys. [Jason Kidd] has been an outstanding player for many, many years and he’s also going to be a coach in the locker room. He, Kurt [Thomas] and Marcus [Camby], everything that Woody says to the team, they’re going to have his back. I think it’s great.”
Ewing wouldn’t go as far as to crown the Knicks as this season’s champions, but he did like the early season progress.
“They’re very talented,” Ewing said. “Woody’s a great coach. They’ve started out fast and everyone wants them to do well.”
If the Knicks have any chance of making a prolonged playoff run, it will depend solely on Carmelo Anthony and his ability to lead this team while Amar’e Stoudemire returns from a knee injury.
“Definitely [Carmelo can be a leader],” Ewing said. “He’s one of the best players in the game. I think that his experience playing in the Olympics definitely helped him to mature. People around here knocked him for not passing the ball, but when we played him or watched him, he always passed the ball.”
Ewing, the Knicks’ all-time leading scorer, does not buy the notion that Anthony and Stoudemire cannot co-exist.
“I think they can play together,” Ewing said. “To me, the bulk of the shots should go right there to them two.”
Ewing didn’t seem to harbor any bad blood against his former team, which offered him the head coaching job with their D-League affiliate, the Erie Bayhawks.
“I still consider myself a Knick, I’m still a part of the organization,” Ewing said. “When the time comes, something will happen.
“I still want to coach. Unfortunately we got let go in Orlando, I turned a job down in Atlanta and nothing else was offered.”
Ewing became the first recipient for the Bach Award, which will be given out annually by Fordham to an individual who has had a substantial and lasting impact on basketball. The award is named after three-time NBA champion coach Johnny Bach, who Ewing coached alongside Bach with the Wizards.
“I’m delighted that Patrick Ewing will be the first recipient,” added Bach. ““I’ll kid him that no one took three steps to the basket as well as he did. He would counter that [Michael] Jordan was pretty good at taking the extra step or two as well.”
The Knicks legend was accompanied by his daughter, Randi, who is a volleyball player at Fordham. Ewing can be seen in the crowd when his daughter plays at Rose Hill, but he wouldn’t commit to watching Tom Pecora’s Rams this season.
“I’m not sure,” Ewing said. “Blood is thicker than water. I want to see them do well because my daughter goes there.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com