PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers are exploring the options they have on their roster now that everyone is ready to go. Nick Nurse's decisions will ultimately leave a few guys out to dry with fewer minutes than they deserve. Robert Covington is one of the Sixers squeezed out of regular minutes by the lineup crunch.
Nurse did not name Covington as one of the main eight players in the Sixers' rotation. While he indicated he's one of the other players who should still play often, his minutes of late have gone from mid-teens to low-20s and then to pushing 30 minutes in games where Philly was shorthanded. He played just under 14 minutes in the Sixers' demolition of the Washington Wizards, zero in the game before and just four in the game prior to that.
But he's not sweating it one bit.
Covington alluded to the experience he had when he was out of the rotation for his old team, the Los Angeles Clippers to illustrate why he's not bugging about his inconsistent role with the Sixers. He knows what this is like and he has faith in his Philly teammates.
Robert Covington isn’t sweating his lack of playing time amid Nick Nurse searching for the right lineups. Says he just looks to stay ready by being a professional & that he went through stuff like this previously with the Clippers pic.twitter.com/lLlf51wyUV
— Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) December 12, 2023
“Listen, you gotta be prepared. You gotta be a pro, you know? And every time you step on that court, your name's called, you gotta be prepared. That's it,” Covington said. “And then I went through the stuff that I went through in LA, everybody asks the same questions. How do I stay ready? It's a mental thing.”
With the Sixers in need of defensive playmakers, Covington should have a relatively straightforward path to minutes. Nurse's rotation decisions suggest that he only likes RoCo's game to a certain degree, as his ability to generate turnovers and shoot from deep matches perfectly with the identity Nurse is building with this team. Nonetheless, Covington still has something to prove.
Covington was a part of the Sixers' main rotation in this game but the blowout nature of the contest allowed Nurse to see guys like him, Jaden Springer, Mo Bamba, Danuel House Jr., K.J. Martin and Furkan Korkmaz play for an extended period of time.
“I'd like to get all those guys more minutes, but you just can't do it. You just can't,” Nurse said. “So, give 'em a lot of credit 'cause here is a battle going on for some of those positions and that's their opportunity and I think most of them went out there and played very, very well.”
In the Sixers' huge win over the Wizards, Covington contributed eight points and four rebounds. He played his typical brand of basketball, slowing down the Wizards' offense and shooting when the opportunities arose.
“That's my job. That's how I set the tone,” he said of his defense. “I'm the guy that brings that energy, brings effort and you know, if I don't do it, who else will? Like I said, it's a mentality that's what makes my presence felt on the floor. That's what my job is and that's what I do best.”
Covington knows his bread-and-butter is disrupting offenses. He simply stays ready to do what he does best for the Sixers when his number is called. The numbers on the scoreboard matter most but the numbers that show he is among the best at generating deflections aren't lost on him, either.
“It's not the first time,” he said of being at the top of the leaderboards in those defensive stats. “It won't be the last.”
Follow Us
Subscribe