[Rocketsadam] Robert Covington, The Third Star

Give Morey a lot of credit. I was really unsure of the Capela trade and hated giving up a first rounder as part of the deal, but watching him play has totally vindicated the move.

 

Offensively Gordon is your best shot at being a third star because he can create for himself, Covington’s scoring is completely dictated by what the defense gives you. But if we were talking about overall impact on winning(isn’t that what matters?) it is not even close, in fact Covington has been by far our second star by any advanced metric so far in the bubble and playoffs. His individual defense is decent as long as he isn’t stuck on small quick guards like CP3 or Shroder. He’s been a terrific spacer with his 3pt%. But it’s his help d that has been absolutely elite, playing the gaps, help side shot blocking, deflection/steals etc. He is a major contributor to why we are the #1 defense in the playoffs and why small ball is viable at all.

Which was why I thought it was so inexcusable to only play him 17 min in game 3. But alas I think D’antoni has learned his lesson.

 

Y’all remember when we told you how much better Covington is than Capela? This is Lowry vs Brooks/Alston all over again. (pls tell me DD hated on the Capela trade too)

 

ask russ to recruit jerami grant next season, that gonna be a legitimate dream team, think about it, either RoCo or Jerami can be a 3rd option, in addition, they can share a lot of workload from aging thiic who is the soul of this team (a non-trading property).
russ g
james g
RoCo f/c
Jerami f/c
PJ f/c

 

Roco is a monster. His combined work on both ends, even when he’s missing shots, is incredible.

 

We need him to make more 3 pointers in Game 2. I want him to attack the basket too. Use your height and length to the max. knock your FT's down. Defense takes a lot of energy out, but we need Ro-Co to have a big game on both ends of the floor in Game 2.

 

his attacks on the rim as of late was a nice surprise

 

Yes, that's what I want to see more of in Game 2.

 

It was nice to see a mix of 3s and attacks to the rim. Our players attempted only thirty nine 3s. Guess what? The Lakers by going smaller and removing a big from their lineup, Russ, Eric, Harden and Rivers will have an easier path to the basket, especially if the Lakers start doubling teaming Harden.

Shoot the 3s if you are open; otherwise, make a mad run to the rim. LeBron is already difficulty with our speed, so let's make them even more uncomfortable.

 

When Lovington had those bad streak of games, you have to forgive them because he plays defense. One of the best asset is he is likely his mentality. He played defense against CP3, who maybe 2x faster than him. We wouldn't have a series against the Lakers without him. I hope we can keep him for a long time.

 

Now pay him.

 

Hard to say, Lowry was clearly above the other 2.

Capela was overrated here but he had his moments and elite rebounding.

Rebounding is the least thing they needed because Harden and WB can average 8 or 9 boards a game apiece respectively.

 

For me PJ is the real third star.

 

It wasn’t clear to plenty of people like DD who argued with me and others for months/years that AB was better than Lowry. Or the people who said trading Rafer for Lowry was a horrible trade. Of course it’s obvious now, Lowry is an all star and the other two are out of the league. Half the kids here probably have never even heard of AB. In a couple of years we are going to look back at Covington for Capela the same way.