Robert Covington Becoming 76ers X-Factor with Versatile Play

Robert Covington has become the Philadelphia 76ers multidimensional secret weapon so far this season.

The Philadelphia 76ers probably don’t get their first win of the season Tuesday night against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers without Robert Covington. The second-year small forward continued his recent scintillating on-court play scoring 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor (5-11 3-point), while adding five boards and dishing out four assists.

Last night against the New York Knicks, Covington recorded his seventh-straight game reaching double-digits in scoring and added four rebounds and four assists in the contest.

It’s a promising turnaround considering that the Tennessee State product missed nine out of the first 10 games of the season with a sprained MCL in the preseason and later re-aggravated it in a practice. The start wasn’t ideal for the 24-year-old from Illinois, as he began the season shooting just 8-of-37 from the field (21.6 percent) and also started 0-of-18 from deep.

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For a streaky shooter like Covington, this is quite the turnaround. A facet to their inconsistencies to start the season stemmed from an inability to knock down the long-range jumper. With Covington on the shelf, the Sixers turned to guards in Isaiah Canaan, Nik Stauskas and Hollis Thompson for the source of their 3-point production.

During the time of Covington’s inconsistencies or having to wear street clothes on the sidelines, which ranges from Oct. 28 to Nov. 20, the collective effort of Canaan, Stauskas and Thompson resulted in a 32.7 percent clip from deep. Thompson fueled the charge, shooting 40.6 percent during the span, and has been an underrated talent on the second unit after struggling with consistency in the first two years with the team, but the ace of the team was evidently absent.

Covington hasn’t been the definition of consistency throughout his career with a 36.8 percent 3-point field goal percentage, but has been Philadelphia’s main threat from the perimeter on the starting unit. Last season, he was solely a marksman who had difficulty producing in areas outside of jump shooting.

Recently, Covington has expanded his game to be a more versatile weapon for the Sixers. On the defensive end, Covington struggles with lateral movement and quickness defending his man one-on-one. However, he has been more active with his hands.

Never being known for a hyper-active player on the defensive end, it’s promising to see Covington make up for his lacking athleticism by showing effort. Covington has shown fervor on the defensive side of the ball, but it hasn’t translated to numbers and evidently as it has recently.

Though he has not recorded a steal in his last two games, Covington is at least showing desire to play both ways and encompass that 3-and-D type of player lacking on the Sixers roster.

Mired in a losing streak that surpassed every other team in the association thus far in the season, Covington posted 18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 5.2 steals per game in a five-game period spanning from loss No. 14 to 18.

The combo forward has a unique build for a 3-point marksman. A 6-9, 215-pound forward, Covington has a condor-like wingspan at 7’4″ used for hoisting clean looks over defenders and skying to grab rebounds. Currently bringing down a career-high 5.8 rebounds per game, Covington is becoming more valuable to the Sixers than just for his scoring capabilities, explains phillymag.com’s Derek Bodner:

"Last year Covington had a defensive rebounding rate, which is an estimate of the available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while he was on the court, of only 14.6%, which made it tough to play him at the power forward spot. That’s up to a much more respectable 19.2% so far this year, which falls much more in line with the 19.6% he grabbed during his four-year college career."

At times last season, Covington was a much-needed floor spacer for Nerlens Noel at the four, giving Philadelphia a stretch option down low who has the build to defend other power forwards. Last night against the Knicks, Covington once again started in the small forward role, giving way to Jerami Grant, who occupied the power forward position. Covington has been utilized as a stretch four this season, but not as frequently as last season.

Covington, offensively, is a predominate 3-point shooter with range. The chart below from infogr.am effectively illustrates how Covington is utilized as an offensive weapon.

Robert Covington
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Covington might be a quick twitch shooter, but lacks burst with his first step needed to blow by defenders. When he gets a step on them, Covington will lose quickness and defer to a teammate on the perimeter most of the time.

For the combo forward, Covington’s role doesn’t constitute heavy driving attempts, but rather spot-up attempts and catch-and-shoot jumpers from behind the arc. He is third on the team with a 52.7 percent effective field goal percentage in catch-and-shoot situations, per nbastats.com.

He’s understanding what is going to allow him to play for, what looks to be, an extended time in the NBA as a long term role player. He doesn’t play outside of his wheelhouse, and his deferring on drive attempts isn’t as burdensome if he can limit his 0.7 turnovers per game on drive attempts.

Through 20 games, Covington is one of the most statically diverse Sixers, averaging 13.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3.0 SPG while sporting a Player Efficiency Rating of 14.49. Getting his field goal percentage above the 40 percent mark (currently at 38.2%) should be a goal for a player whose becoming a multidimensional talent for a team lacking stars. It’s difficult playing for a team that takes as many contested shots as the Sixers do, but if Covington’s consistency and shot selection can match the effectiveness of his recent numbers, the forward’s game will continue to develop.

He might not be as heavily regarded or noticed as a Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel, but Robert Covington is becoming more than a shooter for a team clamoring for production.