Philadelphia 76ers: Robert Covington is Houston’s secret weapon
While the Philadelphia 76ers drudge away in the cold waters of mediocrity, Robert Covington is having the best season of his career with the Houston Rockets.
The Philadelphia 76ers are kinda bad right now.
Since losing Joel Embiid minutes into an ugly outing against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Sixers are 2-4 despite some eye-popping performances by Shake Milton.
Truly these are the worst of time in South Philly… at least, until the next worst of times which will surely come as these things so often do for Philly sports fans.
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However, not all fans of the Sixers are currently pondering what life would be like if they bandwagon jumped to the Flyers. No, I happen to know a man who made a little over $19 million from the organization who is having the best 2020 ever: Robert Covington.
That’s right, Robert Covington, RoCo, Philly’s former favorite mohawks defensive stopper who was unceremoniously traded to the frozen tundra of Minnesota for a 67 game fling with Jimmy Butler. Remember who he used to set the tone at the top of the key all the while never seeing a 3 point shot he didn’t want to take?
Boy, those were the days.
Since leaving Philly to team up with noted Eagles fan Karl-Anthony Towns, Covington was traded for the second season in a row, this time to the team that gave him his first NBA shot all the way back in 2013: The Houston Rockets.
Netted in a four-team deal that also featured the Hawks and the Nuggets, Covington has joined up with Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and company to form the weirdest starting five in the NBA.
Slotted in at power forward, a position he transitioned into more frequently in Minnesota, Covington has become a fixture of the Rockets micro-ball starting five – measuring in at two-inches taller than the team’s starting center, P.J. Tucker.
Despite having made a name for himself as a wing defender, Covington’s defensive acumen has been on full display for Mike D’Antoni and company – averaging 2.5 blocks, 1.2 offensive rebounds, and 6.7 defensive rebounds a game. Cov has also been a serious offensive contributor in the Rockets iso-heavy offense, scoring 13 points a game while hitting three of his 8.3 3 point attempts a game.
Chalk it up to a 13 game sample size, but Covington is playing some of the best basketball of his career despite being asked to play on one of the most unorthodox teams in the NBA.
Really, the only aspect of Covington’s game that has taken a slight dip in his shooting percentage from beyond the arc, but they don’t call him ‘Big Shot Bob’ because of his stingy reputation for only taking the highest percentage shots. For the price of Clint Capela and a future first-round pick, the Rockets couldn’t have asked for a better player to slot into their singular vision of basketball in 2020.
Boy, if only the Sixer received that sort of bump in production from their deadline acquisitions, plural.
Next. The Philadelphia 76ers are NOT built for small-ball. dark
Look, I’m not even mad; I get it. Elton Brand saw a tantalizing opportunity to target the perfect third banana for their homegrown-ish Big 3 and ran with it. However, some 15 months later, do you know who could give the current Philadelphia 76ers a serious boost as they look to turn things around down the stretch? Robert ‘RoCo’ Covington. *sigh* at least the Flyers are good.