The value of Robert Covington (even when shots don't fall)

It was a dreary Sunday morning in San Antonio's AT&T Center when the 76ers were wrapping up a morning practice. Two nights prior, they had dropped their ninth consecutive game to open the season in Houston. The Sixers' roster at that time included starters Tony Wroten, Henry Sims and Brandon Davies. Drew Gordon, Chris Johnson and Alexey Shved were some of the bench players Brett Brown could go to.

You get the picture.

That morning in San Antonio, the team introduced a new player as they had just signed a 6-9 swingman who mostly made a name for himself in the NBA Development League. As Robert Covington took shot after shot following the practice, I watched and watched. Brown came over to me…