Robert Covington is the Philadelphia 76ers’ invaluable glue guy
By Wes Goldberg
Before the game, Sacramento Kings head coach Dave Joerger called them “stud muffins.” He was referring to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the “unfair” stars that have the Philadelphia 76ers positioned for an exciting future. But the leading scorer that night wouldn’t be Embiid or Simmons. Rather, it would be Robert Covington, a 6-foot-9 forward who speaks casually and confidently while earbuds bumping The Carter III hang from his lobes.
“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder,” Covington said. “I never was highly recruited, I never was really talked about as much.”
He’s still not talked about nearly as much as his high-profile teammates. Baked between those stud muffins, he is perhaps equally as important to the success of the team. He’s been among the best 76ers this season, making half of more than seven 3-point attempts per game while guarding the opponent’s best wing player on defense. Covington scored 24 points in Philadelphia’s losing effort against the Kings. As the 76ers deal with winning expectations for the first time in this era, Covington will play a crucial part in the team’s future.
Read More: DeMarcus Cousins is ready to move on from Sacramento
Covington’s come up is much different than Philly’s top picks. Whereas Embiid, Simmons and Markelle Fultz have been the focus of scouts and recruiting services since high school, “RoCo” was not. As a high schooler, he wasn’t even ranked in his home state of Illinois. He ended up at Tennessee State University and, after four years there, went undrafted in 2013. After a stint in the G League, where he played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who famously tested the boundaries of volume 3-point shooting, Covington landed in Philadelphia.
Former 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie had a simple mission statement: Get more draft picks, increase the chance of finding a star. Covington in this respect is a stark outlier on a roster stacked with first-round picks. He may, however, be one of the biggest wins for 76ers management.
“You look at Robert Covington as sort of the poster child for our development plan,” said 76ers head coach Brett Brown. “He’s one of the elite two-way players, growing into one of the elite two-way players, I think, in the NBA.”
“I rank myself one of the top,” Covington added later in the locker room.
“He’s one of the elite two-way players, growing into one of the elite two-way players, I think, in the NBA.”
First-round picks can change the course of a franchise, and Embiid and Simmons have the 76ers on a championship trajectory. Hitting on late picks and undrafted free agents can take a team over the hump. Golden State and Draymond Green. Houston and Clint Capela. San Antonio and Danny Green. The L.A. Clippers and DeAndre Jordan. These are the players who often become complementary pieces to the stars, who make things easier for their team’s best players. Covington holds together the fabric of what the 76ers do on both ends of the court.
“You can call him a glue guy,” Brown said. “We’ve grown him, we’ve harvested and cultivated a lot of what he’s done and full credit to him. He’s a significant part of what we do.”
Covington finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season, a testament to his ability to guard multiple positions. Over a course of a game, he might guard every opponent who steps on the floor. Simmons may be the one with the ball in his hands with the game on the line, but it’s Covington who is trusted to guard the opponent’s best player in those moments.
After earning playing time with his defense last season, Covington worked to become a more consistent 3-point shooter. He made a respectable but modest 33 percent of his shots from beyond the arc last season, and went through several stretches when he’d go something like 1-for-7 for several games. On one occasion, in a Nov. 17 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Covington took 12 3s, making one. Maybe leftover habits from his days in the G League.
“This offseason I worked on a lot of mechanics of my shot. It wasn’t like anything was wrong. I just focused in on a lot of things that will help myself be better,” Covington said. “I knew what we was capable of this year and I wanted to make sure I was ready, and I couldn’t have the lapse like I did last year.”
Before games, Covington works on balancing drills. He jumps off two feet as a trainer pushes and prods different parts of his body to simulate the physicality of an NBA game. It’s easy to hit jumper after jumper in an empty gym. That night, the Kings fouled him twice as he went up from beyond the arc. He made both shots and earned trips to the foul line for a pair of four-point plays.
Covington’s size and shooting combined with the fearsome athleticism of Simmons and Embiid presents a riddle for defenses.
“He should, rightfully so, look at this program as much as Joel and Ben could and say ‘this is my program too.”
Teams will often put their longest wing defender on Simmons. This leads to either a smaller player or a larger, more lumbering big getting stuck with Covington. Against smaller players, he can just shoot over them with his long 7-foot wingspan. Against big men, he can take them off the dribble. As The Athletic’s Mike O’Connor writes, Covington isn’t a great finisher when attacking the basket, but his pull-up game is effective enough to still get open shots. Covington is shooting a respectable 43 percent on long mid-range shots, per Cleaning The Glass. His ability to capitalize on mismatches is and will be key in his role as an outlet on offense.
It’s a symbiotic relationship. Covington’s shooting provides more space for Embiid and Simmons to operate. The threat of his shot paralyzes defenses trained to not give up open 3s. Watch here as both Garrett Temple and George Hill fail to close out on Embiid because they are both transfixed on Covington, positioned two feet beyond the arc. This leads to a wide open shot for Philadelphia’s unicorn center.
Here again is Covington’s paralyzing effect on display. Embiid and Simmons execute a switch which leads to a two-man game between the 76ers’ best players. Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo is stuck on Simmons in the post, and Embiid hits him with the entry pass. Now, in most cases, this would demand weak-side help, but Bojan Bogdanovic can’t look away from Covington. Bogdanovic is too late on the help, and Oladipo is left on an island against Simmons in the paint.
That hesitation from the defense gives Philadelphia’s star players the extra inch or second that often times decides the outcome of a play. As Brown succinctly sums up: “Rarely will you not see him on the floor at the end of games, and it’s because he can make a shot and he defends.”
Covington is in the last year of his contract, and will reportedly sign a four-year extension with the 76ers on Friday.
The deal will be worth $62 million, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and will be structured in a way that provides cap flexibility for Philadelphia in the future. It will feature a larger salary in the first season of the deal, with descending salaries each year after.
"“For the 76ers, the balloon payment on the 2017-18 season allows the team increased salary-cap space and payroll flexibility for upcoming seasons, when Philadelphia plans to be aggressive in free agency. The Sixers could have $25 million in salary-cap space this summer.”"
Unlike his teammates, Covington didn’t walk across the NBA Draft stage in a suit and hug it out with Adam Silver, knowing there would be a multi-million dollar contract waiting for him on the other side. He had to wait longer. He had to work harder. The Process was about finding stars, but teams don’t win consistently without players like Covington.
Next: How Chris Douglas Roberts became Supreme Bey
The new deal stakes Covington as one of Philadelphia’s core building blocks, alongside Simmons and Embiid,.
“He should, rightfully so, look at this program as much as Joel and Ben could and say, This is my program too. I belong here,’” Brown said.
Covington didn’t pop out of the oven ready to eat like his stud muffin teammates. He was more of a slow boil. If you don’t pay attention, he’ll burn you.