The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Is Robert Covington one of the NBA’s top 3-point shooters?

By Michael Bronson

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 25: Robert Covington #33 of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts after a made three point basket in the first quarter against the Houston Rockets at the Wells Fargo Center on October 25, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 25: Robert Covington #33 of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts after a made three point basket in the first quarter against the Houston Rockets at the Wells Fargo Center on October 25, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Thanks to incredible 3-point shooting, Robert Covington has been one of the Philadelphia 76ers’ best players through 10 games. Is he becoming one of the league’s best shooters?

Robert Covington’s performance in his first game with the Philadelphia 76ers showed no signs of the player he would become. After watching the 2013-14 season with random D-Leaguers in Brandon Davies, Lorenzo Brown, and James Nunnally, I just assumed that Covington will be another guy off the street that will be able to tell his children someday that he played in an NBA game despite being barely good enough to get significant playing time on a Euroleague team.

Sold as the best the D-League had to offer after averaging 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game to become the D-League’s Most Valuable Player, Covington only attempted five shots — including one 3-pointer he missed — over 16 minutes in the Sixers’ 100-75 loss to the San Antonio Spurs to start the season with nine straight losses. It wasn’t until the Sixers’ first win of the season, eight games after Covington’s debut with the team, that he showed his potential.

The Sixers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in a nearly unwatchable 85-77 game thanks to a 3-pointer Covington made with 1:15 left on the clock that extended the Sixers’ one point lead to a four point lead.

With the Sixers being 0-17 at the time and not knowing that Covington is the type of player you would want to take an open 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining in a close game, I was furious watching this D-Leaguer possibly killing the Sixers’ best chance to get a victory and avoid getting the worst start in NBA history — a record they would tie the next season.

More from Sixers News

But Covington made the shot like he made half the six 3-pointers he took that game, and it was the beginning of Covington becoming the Sixers’ best 3-point shooter.

The 2013-14 season or the first year of “The Process” the Sixers made 577 3-pointers which was bad enough to make them the 19th team in this category.

The Sixers jumped eight spots the following season making 692 3-pointers and Covington’s 167 made 3-pointers was the main reason they improved. In the 221 games Covington has played in the NBA, he has averaged 12.8 points per game with 61 percent of his shots coming from behind the 3-point line while making 36 percent of them.

While Covington’s 3-point percentage dropped to a career low of 33 percent during the 2016-17 season and his shot struggled so much early in the season that a few fans decided to boo him at home games, Covington has fixed whatever issues he had with shot last season and is currently the best 3-point shooter in the Eastern Conference.

Before the results of Wednesday’s games, Covington was fifth in 3-pointers made with 35 behind James Harden (46), Stephen Curry (42), Eric Gordon (39), and Klay Thompson (38). When it comes to 3-point percentage, Covington’s 50 percent is higher than Harden (40 percent), Curry (39.6 percent), Gordon (34.8 percent), and Thompson (45.8 percent), and he has taken 46 more 3-pointers than the current leader in percentage Nemanja Bjelica (62.5 percent).

Next: Top 30 players in Sixers franchise history

A moment that happened a whopping 19 times in 10 games this season shows why Covington is such an important part of the Sixers. That moment when Ben Simmons passes the ball pass the 3-point line to an open, or covered with an opponent’s hand soon to be in his face, Covington, and without the slightest bit of hesitation, takes the shot with everyone watching believing it’s good the second the ball leaves his hands.