That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense. He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).
In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)
Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons. If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender. Nothing more. When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons? He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league. He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson. And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league? He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.
Oh and just for fun...


EDIT: In being objective, I'm not positive Willis Reed is 100% clearly better defensively than Ewing so would have to drop him to the lower half (where he still might come out above Ewing though).