During the NBA All-Star break, we'll take a look at some of the Sixers’ newcomers and their prospects for the future with the team.
Robert Covington
Height: 6-9
Weight: 215
Position: Small forward
Breakdown
Robert Covington is in the All-Star Weekend Rising Stars game. He’s only 24, but he had to travel a long and difficult road to make it this far.
He was cut by his middle school squad three times. He was undrafted out of Tennessee State. He signed a free-agent contract with the Rockets but played just seven games in Houston. He spent most of his time with the organization’s D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He was named the D-League MVP. That excited the Rockets so much that they cut him.
The Sixers signed Covington in November. He didn’t make his first start for the team until December. Since then, he’s been inarguably one of the best and biggest surprises for the Sixers this season. There’s a good case to be made for him as the team’s most valuable player.
Covington offers exactly what the Sixers have needed for the last two years: someone who can help space the floor by serving as an outside shooting threat. He leads the team in three-pointers made per game (2.4) and three-point percentage (38.9). He gets to the line three times per game and converts a team-high 83.5 percent. He’s right at the league average in PER (15.0), and he has a 55.6 true shooting percentage. For a guy they picked up off the street, that’s an excellent return on investment.
At 6-9, 215 pounds, he’s long and athletic enough to confound opposing guards/wings on defense. The problem, as Brett Brown put it earlier this season, is his consistency at that end of the floor.
NBA
Covington could also be better at creating his own shot. He’s taken 103 threes this season, 96 of which have been assisted. Accordingly, he shoots 41.4 percent on catch-and-shoot opportunities but just 24.6 percent on pull-ups, according to NBA.com. When he dribbles three or more times, his field goal percentage dips below 30 percent, also per NBA.com.
But on the whole, working on his shot off the dribble and giving a more consistent effort on defense are minor quibbles when measured against what he does well for the Sixers and how much they need his shooting.
Highs
Covington’s five-game stretch in February going into the All-Star break was some of his best basketball of the season. He took 13.6 shots per game and made 44.1 percent from the field, both of which were better than his season averages. He also upped his rebounds, assists and steals over that stretch to 6.6, 2.0 and 2.6 per game, respectively.
In the team’s penultimate game before the All-Star break, Covington led the Sixers to their fourth-straight home win by scoring 22 points against the Charlotte Hornets. Covington went 7 for 15 from the floor, including 5 for 10 from distance. He added eight rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
Lows
The early going was a little rough for Covington. He averaged just 4.6 points in a little over 11 minutes per game in November. The Sixers didn’t know what to make of him then. By December, his numbers spiked to 31.5 minutes, 15.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 threes per game. There haven’t been many down moments for him this year. He’s been on an upward trajectory for much of the season.
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The Sixers are a young team that is desperately in need of shooting. Covington fits perfectly. No one else averages more than 1.5 threes per game. And while Jerami Grant is the only Sixer other than Covington to hit better than 38 percent of his threes, Grant attempts just 1.6 per game while Covington bombs 6.2 on average.
His age and skill set make Covington a keeper. So does his contract. The Sixers have him on a super cheap, partially guaranteed deal. He wasn’t just a find for the Sixers. He was a steal.