Philadelphia 76ers: Robert Covington needs to be the MLE target in 2022
On Friday night, Robert Covington went for 43 in the Los Angeles Clippers’ 153 to 119 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
There’s… a lot to unpack in that sentence.
First and foremost, watching the Milwaukee Bucks land another L is good business for the Philadelphia 76ers, as the top of the East is beyond congested, and at this point, every game counts. But for fans of the Sixers who lived through the wonderfully weird social experiment known as “The Process,” the first half is far more noteworthy, as it marks a massive milestone for the team’s one-time starting small forward.
While this particular game was beyond unusual, as the Clippers only used eight players and RoCo was on the court for 45 minutes and change, goodness, anytime a player makes 11 3s in a game, a mark tied for the seventh-most 3s made since the shot was conceived in 1979, it’s an anecdote worth celebrating.
And the best part? After being acquired at the trade deadline alongside Norman Powell in a deal with the Portland Trail Balzers for Eric Bledsoe, Keon Johnson, Justise Winslow, and a 2025 second-round draft pick, Robert Covington is going to be an unrestricted free agent when the season comes to an end and will be eligible to sign wherever he’d like for the 2022-23 season and beyond. If Daryl Morey is wise, it’ll be with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers could desperately use a player like Robert Covington.
So why, you may ask, would Robert Covington want to re-sign with the Philadelphia 76ers? By my estimation, there are three reasons.
First and foremost, RoCo is the exact player the Sixers could use on their roster right now. While his days regularly playing small forward from the top of the key are likely over, as even during his first run with the Sixers, Covington struggled to keep up with the faster guards the NBA had to offer a half-decade ago, the 6-foot-7, 209-pound combo forward is still very much a plus defender who could excel in a switching scheme and help to slow down bigger forwards like Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, who Philly really doesn’t have an answer for outside of Matisse Thybulle.
Factor in an average outside shot on a career average of 6.2 attempts per game – a mark that would rank 42nd in the NBA this season – and Covington would unquestionably have a spot in the Sixers’ regular season and playoff rotations regardless of how the roster is reconfigured post-playoffs.
Then, there’s the connection Covington has with both Daryl Morey and James Harden, whom he spent not one but two tenures with in Houston. Initially signed by Morey as a UDFA out of Tennessee State, Covington split his first professional season between the Rockets and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers before being waived in his second summer with the team and making his way to Philly on a five-year contract. Covington then returned to Houston via a four-team trade in 2020 in a deal that saw Houston surrender Clint Capela, Nene, Gerald Green, and a 2020 first-round pick. In Covington’s second run with the Rockets, which only lasted 34 games if you count the playoffs, the team made the unconventional decision to play their new frontcourt player in the paint as a 6-foot-7 center, a move that was as inventive as it was made fun of. While the NBA hasn’t suddenly given up on playing 7-footers in the painted area, as two of the best players in the game play the position, Covington opened a lot of eyes with his post play on defense and gave Harden a four-out lineup where he had potential outlet passes all over the court.
Have you watched how Doc Rivers uses Paul Millsap with the second unit as a small-ball switching center? Well, imagine a 3-and-D forward like RoCo filling that role.
And last but not least, the third reason why Covington might seriously consider returning to Philadelphia is to finish what he started all of those years ago. You see, RoCo is a Process OG who was throwing up 3s when Joel Embiid was still two years away from his NBA debut in 2014. Bringing back an early career teammate of Embiid’s next season, a half-decade further into both of their careers, would be a pretty surreal feeling for both the man with the self-proclaimed moniker of “The Process” and the fans who stuck with the team all these years later.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and seeing the 6-foot-7, mohawked forward running around in a red, white, and blue 33 jersey would be a sight to see.
If the 2021-22 NBA season has taught us anything, it’s that the Philadelphia 76ers need additional shooting and frontcourt defense. While Matisse Thybulle and Joel Embiid can help to hold down the defensive end of the court in the starting lineup, as the team’s current starting five does have the fourth-best Defensive Rating among lineups with at least 250 minutes played, things tend to fall apart once those two players – and Danny Green – exit the court. Securing any two-way, 3-and-D forward would be an asset to the team moving forward but bringing back Robert Covington, even just for the novelty of the situation, would be a fantastic addition, especially if he’s willing to play on the $6.3 million MLE.