PHILADELPHIA — Robert Covington is back doing what he does for the Philadelphia 76ers: making plays on defense. In the Sixers' Saturday afternoon win over the Phoenix Suns, he played an important part.
Covington played in the first quarter of the Sixers' after Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tobias Harris each committed a pair of fouls early in the game. Nick Nurse needed someone to match up with Kevin Durant and, although Covington didn’t stay with him for the duration of the game, he defended pretty well in the 18 minutes he played, tallying five deflections, two steals and a block. Joel Embiid liked what he saw from a guy he played alongside in the first two seasons of his career.
“He did a great job rebounding and defensively,” Embiid said. “Obviously, his shot wasn’t there but he did the little things at a high level. I thought he did a good job on KD and then, like I said, rebounding. And then on offense, he’s still finding his way with the spacing but I’m sure as the game goes, he’s gonna find a way. He did pretty good.”
Covington was the first player traded from the Los Angeles Clippers in the James Harden deal to play meaningful minutes for the Sixers. Nicolas Batum was away from the team due to a personal matter but is now back. K.J. Martin has played in garbage time and Marcus Morris Sr. is still ramping up after not playing yet this regular season or preseason.
Nurse is a fan of what Covington can bring to the Sixers.
“The first couple things is do you have the ability and do you want to do it? And I think he's got that,” Nurse said of Covington's defensive abilities. “He's got some ability, athletic size, strength, pretty good off-the-ball stuff. And then he is trying really hard, so that goes a long way at that end of the floor. So, that's good to see. And he seems confident.”
Nurse acknowledged that Covington didn’t make any shots from the field but that he “stepped into him like he was going to, which is a good start.” A career 36.2 percent shooter from three-point range, RoCo should be able to find a spot in the Sixers' rotation.
The chance to play for the Sixers again is one that Covington is very excited for.
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