Robert Covington: 'I know I have a lot to give and when the time comes, I'll be prepared for it'

Robert Covington came into the league at the perfect time. The demand for the skillset of three-and-D players was at a premium and Covington quickly realized that and seized his opportunity.

Having spent over a decade as a key rotation piece in most of the teams he played on, Covington feels he still has plenty more in the tank to give to the game.

RoCo was selected to represent Team USA at the 2024 AmeriCup Qualifiers and helped notch USA their first win over Puerto Rico recently. After a recent practice on the team bus, he spoke to HoopsHype about his journey from an undrafted player to 1st Team All-Defense, his frustration with not being on a team roster, his time with the Clippers, and much more.

How has practice been for you so far with this AmeriCup team? Were you shocked to get the call to represent this team?

Robert Covington: Practice has been good. Getting back into a rhythm and feeling pretty good. Just overall, just good to be back playing competitive basketball.

Yes and no. I was shocked because I know there’s a lot of people out there that could have been in this position, but at the same time, I’m a great player, great person, great vet, and someone that people can really learn from.

I know you had a knee injury you were working through last season. And I think you were working back from it during the offseason? How is it now?

RC: I wouldn’t say it was going into the offseason. I was pretty good. I was working out, doing things a lot. A lot of good things well enough to play, but just for whatever reason that didn’t happen. It’s all good. I went into the summer prepping for my next opportunity and I just was patient through everything. I just took my time and fully getting healthy, fully getting ready for everything and just maintaining my peace of mind, because a lot of things didn’t make sense to me, and I try to understand things, try to harp on certain things, but I was just at peace with everything and just moved on from all the stuff that happened.

Like I said, once I got that peace of mind, it made me feel much better. I just was able to move on from the things that transpired.

When you say peace of mind, how did you reach that level mentally?

RC: Just letting go of things that happened and not try to make sense of it. Trying to understand certain things that didn’t make sense and I held onto. But once I let everything go and just put it all in God’s hand and just let him deal with everything, it just made everything much better for me and like I said, it helped with that peace of mind. I’m grateful for where I’m at right now with the opportunity to play with Team USA, and like I said, when my next opportunity comes, I’ll be prepared for that as well.

Outside of dealing with that mental space, how have you been going about the last couple months for you, after you finished up last season with the Sixers?

RC: The main thing is spending time with my family. Spending a lot of time with my daughter, rehabbing, working out, strengthening, just enjoying my time off. For a minute, it was frustrating based off of not knowing the uncertainty of everything and getting in my head about putting the work in and the opportunities were not presenting themselves that I wanted or whatever the case may be.

I just became at peace with everything and when I did that, I just let go and released, and I was able to enjoy myself even more. And I didn’t let things affect me the way they got to me before. Like I never harp on other things, and I just walk around with a smile on my face because I’m so much at peace in life. Just in general with whatever happens that comes my way. I know that my opportunity is still there, I know I have a lot to give and when the time comes, I’ll be prepared for it.

Was there anyone in particular that you talked to get through these tough times and help you get to that peace of mind?

RC: Yes, there’s a lot of people. My family, my friends, my mentors, a lot of people help and I’m grateful that I had so many close-knit people around me that really poured into me and they pushed me. I had a lot of people that really pushed me. I’m grateful for the circle that I have and the amount of love that I received. They really fought for me, talked to me, put that confidence within me. Words of affirmation and the little things that matter and it was done and I appreciate those things and I gave those people grace and I gave those people the praise because without them I wouldn’t be able to have got to this point.

With you trying to get back to an NBA team, what do you think you can bring to a team?

RC: The same thing I bought to everything that I’ve been on. Ain’t nothing changed. Someone that can give energy on the other side, the defensive side, can come in space the floor, move the ball, do the little things that won’t show up on the stat sheet, what made me very effective.

Do you feel like the league now has moved away from bringing in more veterans on teams? Nowadays, the end of benches are young guys on two-way deals.

RC: Yes and no. I think that a lot of guys that are considered veterans in the league now are nine, 10-year guys. You don’t have that many people that are still in the league that have played 15-plus years, and if you think about it, a lot of those guys have transitioned or they’re not superstars, a lot of guys have transitioned to the next stage of their careers, so there’s some names out there that are still capable of playing at a high level, but it’s just the way that the policies are out there, people are just like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna let me see what I can do outside of the basketball court to prep me for the rest of my life because that window is so short’.

Your NBA journey is quite unique. You went from an undrafted guy in Houston and then making a name for yourself in Philly. What are some things you learned along the way?

RC: Consistency, work ethic, doing the little things, being a student of the game, studying the business side of it, the basketball side of it, networking, just being an overall great person and just being your true self. I’m thankful that, like I said, for the people that I’ve learned from, they’ve shown me the way to handle situations, the way to go about things, and the way that the things that went the last couple years I could have really felt a way about everything, but I didn’t. I just embraced it and I just waited for my opportunity to come and things didn’t work out in my favor, but that still didn’t discourage me to the point where I was like, ‘all right, I’m done with it'.

That’s just something that wasn’t meant for me to be in that certain situation. It was something that God was protecting me from, whatever the case maybe, and prepping me for the next phase of whatever he has in front of me and not trying to understand it for whatever reason that put a grip on things for me. But once I just fully let go, I just stopped like trying to put the emphasis on things. I was able to just focus on grinding and doing the work, and not letting the outside noise affect me.

When you speak now about trying to come to terms with things and then at the same time trying to get back in the league, and then when you look back at how your career began, coming in with a chip on your shoulder just trying to get on a team. Do you see a lot of similarities there?

RC: Yeah, just going out doing the work and letting the work prove for itself. People say certain things which are untrue and you put that stigma or whatever the case, I just gotta go out and prove them wrong.

What transpired in Philly last year does not signify anything about what it is right now. What happened in L.A. does not signify anything right now, even though I didn’t play, I sat back as a great teammate and just did what I was supposed to. I was myself and no matter what things have transpired, I just stay true to myself and just keep working.

Throughout your career, you were involved in five trades, including a couple that involved Jimmy Butler and James Harden. How did your thought process change when you first got traded to your most recent one?

RC: I learned that people can say one thing and do another, it’s just the business side of it. They gotta do what’s best for them. My first trade really hurt and hit me because I heard about it for so long. Because I know it’s the business side and the person that I was in trade talks for is somebody that I knew could benefit the program. And if that was the case, I just wanna be prepared so I can prepare for my next phase. And it didn’t happen that way. I harped on that for a little while and I felt some type of way about it at first but then it got to the point where I go because it’s the basketball side of it, and that is how the business goes.

When people talk about how when it happens, but being caught off guard is unfortunate and I was caught off guard a couple of times but because I have been through it before, I’ve had someone that was honest with me, and I’ve also had people that have not been honest with me about it, I just take it for what it is but, whatever happens, happens, and I can’t control what they do. I just control how I react, and that’s what I’ve gotten better at because at the end of the day, no matter what, I’m still gonna go do my job and I’m still gonna go do what I gotta do no matter what jersey I’m in. No matter what city I’m in and that’s all that matters. No matter what nobody does or what trade talks, no matter what the case may be. I’m still gonna just go out and do my job because that’s who I am.

Control what you can control. You can’t make understanding out of some situation and it’s not meant for you because you don’t know what is being said behind closed doors and what words are being talked about. So try not to understand that, just embrace it, like... OK, cool, next opportunity. I just pick up and go prep myself for the next phase.

Who was your favorite coaches you played for?

RC: Brett Brown. He made it more than just basketball. He taught us about life, taught us about different things. Just to help us go through that tough phase that we were in, in The Process years. He’s one of my favorite coaches. The things I learned from him and the coaching staff, my player development coach, Lloyd Pierce, will stay with me forever.

I speak highly of Lloyd because Lloyd is the one that helped me literally get to where I am, and Brett Brown was the one that talked to me and basically told me, ‘Man, look, you can score the ball, you can shoot the ball pretty well, but in order to be able to stay in the league with the way the league was transitioning, you gotta be able to guard someone. You gotta be able to guard somewhere and you gotta be able to do it at a high level because at the end of the day, that’s the only way you’re gonna make a lot of money in this game’. I took those comments to heart, and then Lloyd made it happen. He put me into a lot of situations, watched a lot of film preparation that went to those three years. Let me to get 1st Team All-Defense in 2018. Those are the things I’m thankful for. They pushed me, they challenged me and I got better.

What situation would you say was the most adversity you faced in the league?

RC: The Clippers. Playing time and just not knowing if I was gonna play. So that was the hardest thing, but I still embraced it and just waited for my opportunity, and when my opportunity showed and came, I was ready.

You were there for a couple years. A lot of what ifs with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. When you were there, did you feel like you guys had a legitimate shot at going all the way?

RC: Yeah, I did. I definitely did. The idea and the makeup of the image we put out there and portrayed, we definitely did. That image, the death lineup, it was a very scary lineup that we never got to really properly put into place and put into use. That was something we were looking forward to but just never happened.

I think only one time during preseason you saw all five wings on the floor: me, Nico (Batum), Kawhi, PG and I think Terance (Mann).

How demoralizing were some of the injuries that Paul George and Kawhi suffered especially during the playoffs?

RC: It definitely put a big gripe on us. It changed the whole dynamic of the teams. The offensive workload, it changed the whole dynamic of things. It pushed some people to be in positions that they probably wouldn’t have been in if them two were healthy.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Robert Covington: 'I know I have a lot to give and when the time comes, I'll be prepared for it'