Robert Covington ‘even better’ than expected for Rockets

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey says newcomer Robert Covington has been “even better than we thought” during his time in Houston.

The Houston Rockets were already optimistic about the fit of 6-foot-8 forward Robert Covington and their much-debated change to a smaller lineup when the trade was first announced on Feb. 5.

Since then, according to GM Daryl Morey, the early returns from the versatile 29-year-old are even better than the Rockets expected.

In an interview this week with Fox Sports 1’s First Things First, Morey elaborated on the factors making Covington such an ideal fit:

The biggest reason for the trade was to get Covington. He’s actually been even better than we thought. We thought he’d be great.

He was with the Rockets [earlier in his career], and we sort of knew what we were getting. But he’s developed and gotten way better.

So the main focus was, ‘Get Covington.’ It’s not only how good he is, but how much he helps everyone on the team, in particular Russell Westbrook. The driving lanes for him, we think are super important. He hasn’t played with this spacing before, and it unlocks the best Russell.

In 10 games with the Rockets, Covington is averaging 13.4 points (36.4% on 3-pointers), 8.4 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 32.4 minutes. He has a defensive rating of 103.9 and an overall net rating of 12.5 in that span, with his defensive rating trailing only Westbrook on Houston’s roster.

The shot-blocking total is nearly triple what Covington averaged in Minnesota (0.9), and it’s replaced what many feared would be a lack of rim protection after losing traditional center Clint Capela in the trade.

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Meanwhile, after acquiring Covington and switching to a smaller lineup with 3-point shooters and versatile defenders at all positions, Westbrook has taken advantage of those open driving lanes. Since the trade, Westbrook is averaging 33.6 points per game on 56.3% shooting and 42.1% from 3-point range, along with 7.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists.

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With Westbrook as their leading scorer alongside Covington, Houston (39-21) entered Wednesday with wins in six of its last seven games.

Covington, Westbrook and the Rockets resume play Thursday with a key home game versus the Los Angeles Clippers (42-19), who they’re chasing in the race for Western Conference playoff seeding. With a national TNT broadcast, tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Central from Toyota Center.

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