The athletic career of former New York Knicks point guard Charlie Ward is put on display in his new book and shares his thoughts on rookie Frank Ntilikina.
Charlie Ward was a surprise first round pick by the New York Knicks in 1994 after just winning the Heisman trophy in football, so many critics did not expect much. It wasn’t until the 1995-96 season he started to see more playing time, eventually becoming the team’s starting point guard in 1997 and orchestrating Knicks teams constantly in playoff contention.
Ward spent 10 years as a member of the Knicks, splitting most of his minutes with other point guards such as Derrick Harper and Chris Childs. He currently ranks in the team’s top-five in 3-point field goals made (598) and in the top 10 all-time in steals (744) and assists (2,451).
The former Florida State University legend is finally allowing his full story to be told in a new book titled “The Athlete: Greatness, Grace and the Unprecedented Life of Charlie Ward.” The book was written by veteran journalist Jon Finkel, who took the time to talk about the development with HoopsHabit.
What was it like working with Charlie?
"Charlie’s great. Yes, it was awesome because we’re close to nothing, he’s older than me where I remember watching him. I remember the first time that I’d really took a draw to him a little bit was when it was before actually the football game that I just mentioned when I was watching some ACC basketball earlier in that year. I watched him just take it to Duke, and take it to UNC, and he was just such a solid leader on the court.And then to see him play football, the best football player in the country for a year, you see people don’t remember that he was also as a finalist the year before. He won it, so I had the expectation that he was a versatile guy that I’ve seen on interviews. But now, since leaving the Knicks, and leaving coaching Houston, he was a high school football coach. And so when I reached out to him about the book, he was interested."
The Athlete: Greatness, Grace and the Unprecedented Life of Charlie Ward, What inspired the book title?
"Occasionally, when you’re writing a book, you’ll have it before in your head of what you wanted to be both Charlie. He has such a very level of experience. I didn’t really have anything in my head what I wanted to call it. I thought it would just come to me, and process the four, five months of writing the book and it did.Everybody I interviewed from Jeff Van Gundy, to Tony Dungy, to Coach Mark Rich, to Allen Houston. At some point, they would just brew when they were praising his abilities, or even his skills on the court, or on the field, or whatever it was.At some point, I went back to his high school coach. He did say, he was just an athlete. When you saw him play, whatever the sport, you just look at him, and said he is just an elite athlete. And so that word just kept coming up. I don’t know, probably 50, 100 interviews for the book, or more. And everybody at some point who saw him play when he was five years old, or 25 years old. We just stumble on to the idea, I know it’s a simple thing. He’s athletic, or whatever, but he’s just a pure athlete. And that’s why he was able to do all those things.”So, that’s where I got the athlete part of it. Then the other kind, the subtitle came along the same way. He had such an elite, playing point guard at the level he did. Nobody else – he played and won the national championship for the state. He was the highest man, but he was also the Elite Eight as a point guard for his basketball team. He went, I think three Sweet 16 as a point guard. And he’s a point guard in the NBA Finals.There were people who swear that baseball was his best sport in high school. So, that level of greatness came to me at this. Everybody who talked to him, they’d say he was just great. He was just the greatest player out there. Also, a great guy, great leader. So, that’s how that worked.Grace, he’s out of state is very important to him, his beliefs are very important to him. And Grace has double meaning in terms of he’s obviously very graceful athletic athlete. But Grace really fits the lifestyle in the way he wants to lead.Unprecedented is just no one’s done anything close to what he’s done. Just then Gundy, I taught him a few times in a book, and he coupled it at the end of each conversation, he would just say, “No one ever going to see this again.” Can you imagine eyes on trophy winner having an 11-year NBA career playing in the NBA Finals like it’s never going to happen? And so the title just came to me now through the writing of it."
What do you expect in terms of the fan support and people in New York City?
"He was in those years, the years they went to the Finals and he played there for such a long time. But in the Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston years, end of the Patrick Ewing era. He was the defensive guy. He didn’t have any sort of superstar numbers, he wasn’t an All-Star. But he set the tempo. Gundy always called him his emotional anchor for the team.And so, I think New York fans, they’ve obviously been going through a rough path in terms of making the playoffs, and having success there. But they recognize that leadership, and they recognize that what he did for them back then. He was kind of the glue that allowed Chris Childs to come off the bench.I was in high school in New Jersey while Charlie was playing during a lot of those years. And so, he was sort of the favorite, the offbeat favorite. We had Rangers jerseys, or maybe Allan Houston jerseys. But the true-blue die hard, Charlie Ward Jerseys, he’ll get a great reception in New York."
The man himself Charlie Ward gave his take on Knicks rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina so far during his first season.
What are your early thoughts on Frank Ntilikina?
"Ward: He’s a rookie right now, so he’s getting the opportunity to play, which is good, so he’ll develop over time. I think he has the work ethic. He’s been on a winning team so I think that will translate to him playing in the NBA. I saw him play a couple of times, like I said he’s young but he does have some talent, right now he just has to go at his skill level and continue to get better each year."
Next: 2017-18 Week 13 NBA Power Rankings
For more on Charlie Ward follow him on Twitter at @cward2117 and check out his book,The Athlete: Greatness, Grace and the Unprecedented Life of Charlie Ward wherever books are sold.