By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphis 76ers have a handful of players on their roster that wouldn't even make some NBA teams. Over the coming years, guys like Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric will likely help create a higher level of play on the court, putting this phase of less than mediocre play behind them, but for now, we have to deal with some duds, most notably Robert Covington as of late.
RoCo shot 39.6 percent from three-point range in his first year with the Sixers and followed it up by shooting 38.5 percent last season, despite getting off to a slow start. Through 12 games this season, Covington is shooting 27.3 percent overall and 22.2 percent from thee-point range.
This season, Covington's start has been slow and has shown very little signs of speeding up at all. In 2015-16, he also got off to a slow start from long range, shooting 29 percent in November and 31.4 percent in December before shooting 40.9 percent in January and 39 percent in March. He had his ups and downs, but he went on streaks where it seemed like he couldn't miss. That doesn't seem to be happening even slightly this year.
The big issue for Covington that is magnified this season, due to his inability to hit even an open three, is that beyond the three-point shot, he doesn't offer much at all on the offensive end. It doesn't help when he is missing all of his three's, even the one's that are not contested. His shot chart below shows that not only does he only take three's, but he's failed to convert more than 75 percent of them this season. Covington's misses are even more infuriating when they are taken early in the shot clock with a man in his face.
A good example of what Covington needs to do in order to turn things around is to follow in the path of this year's version of Nik Stauskas. If anyone has watched a Sixers game this season, Stauskas has been one of the lone bright spots off the bench, succeeding in becoming more aggressive and not relying on just the three ball to carry his game.
Stauskas was challenged by Brett Brown this season to show more "swag" on the floor and he's done exactly that, attacking the rim more often, which has consequently opened up his three-point game as well. He's shooting 51.3 percent overall and 40 percent from beyond the arc, but is attempting nearly as many shots within 10 feet of the basket (30) as he is beyond the arc (40). Last season, Stauskas took 325 three pointers and just 122 layups, so this season has shown that a different approach can make you successful in other aspects of the game.
Robert Covington doesn't look like he trying to adjust, but rather just keep shooting until it goes in and that won't fly. He's taken 50 more shots from three-point range (77) than he has from inside the arc (27) this season and has only attempted 19 layups. Unless he begins to drive to the basket and score in different wats, don't expect for his game to improve much or open up at all.
The fourth-year forward out of Tennessee State went 3-for-6 in the Sixers first game against the Thunder but combined to go 3-for-30 over the next four games. In the teams' next games against the Jazz and Pacers, it seemed like Covington may have turned the corner, hitting eight of his 13 shots from beyond the arc and shooting 57 percent overall. It was shortlived, though. Since shooting 5-for-9 from three-point range against the Pacers on the road, Covington has gone 6-for-34, including misses on his last 12 attempts. Overall, since November 9, Covington is shooting just over 19 percent.
At this point, it would be beneficial for the team to experiment with taking Covington out of the starting lineup. Although a guy like Hollis Thompson won't turn too many heads, he's a better option right now and Covington isn't helping himself by just continuing to do the same things again and again. RoCo is second on the team in minutes per game (27.7) behind only Sergio Rodriguez and with him shooting the way he is, it's time to give those minutes to someone else.
