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The NBA allows its players to participate in a select number of unsanctioned summer leagues. One of those is the Danny Rumph Classic held each summer at the Community College of Philadelphia. Local high school and college basketball blog City of Basketball Love is covering the festivities, and a current 76ers showed up. The headline tells you who that is, but how many guesses would you have made before Robert Covington? 5 or 6?
Josh Verlin and Ari Rosenfeld talked with Covington about why he was there and his thought's on Philadelphia:
With no other connection to Philadelphia other than his year spent with the Sixers last season, forward Robert Covington got word of the Rumph Classic from Temple alum Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, and immediately saw it as a great opportunity.
"My homeboy Rahlir invited me to play, and then I got [tournament director] Mike [Morak], and he asked me if I was going to play, so I said why not?," Covington said. "They broke it down, it's a good thing, they said it's 10 years that they've done this, so it's a good thing."
He's signed with the Sixers through the 2017-18 season, and is finally allowing himself to get comfortable now that his home for the next few years is set in stone.
"Everybody's passionate about [basketball] because it's a big city as far as the sports here, and I'm enjoying it," he said. "It's definitely a good feeling, because you know that you're going to be able to come in and work and the core that we have is very, very important.
You can read the full report here. Covington should compete for the starting small forward position once again this season, and among undrafted rookies has had by far the most success as a Sixer during the current regime.
I'm anxious to see his post-summer improvement, especially with his off-the-dribble game. Summer is the time to work on weaknesses, especially in leagues like this with a competitive environment but with low stakes. Covington is lauded for his three point prowess, which looks wonderful alongside Jahlil Okafor's post gravity. But he shot just 43% on two-point shots and had more turnovers than assists.