Rosa's vision

[MikkeMan]

I personally think what Covington does best on defense is team defense. The guy is an unbelievable help defender. You mentioned his recognition I agree with that. He gets his hands on so many balls and covers up for guys. He isn't a point of attack man defender (he is good there) his real value is when he gets to play off and diagnose like you said.

Covington playing the 4 reminds me of Thad Young only Covington is like an elite version of all the stuff Young did. Putting Covington in a place we're you may be funneling guys to...OMG that sounds like fun. Getting steals ripping the ball out of people's hands like they are all Andrew Wiggins...lol. Heck he even blocks shots. Then if you switch everything your PF gets on a PG fine. Oh and he is a pine 3 point shooter than can sorta grab and go a bit. I'm not sold on it but it is intriguing. It also feels like KBD could come in and play a sorta similar role as a PF. I don't think they are gonna play him there full time but maybe starting the game and finishing he game it may make a ton of sense.

I agree that Covington at four would probably maximize his strengths. It's still more common that power forwards are lesser three point shooting threats than wings. So playing RC at four would allow him to play even more help defense.

They could still play more traditional of in certain matchups like against Griffin or Aldridge but most of fours nowadays wouldn't cause too much problems for Covington.

[Duke13]

This is definitely the way the league is going. Covington is 6'9, granted a much different build then Pascal. I like the idea of playing Covington at the 4, most team play this way no. Starting lineups may not also look less traditional like this but a lot of minutes are spent with no big on the floor, with all wings and guards playing. To me this is utilizing Kat, putting spacing around him, for this plan to work he needs to be better defensively. I hate the theory that just because we are bad defensively we need to but another big next to Kat. Flawed thinking in my view! Nice vision Rosas!!

No doubt there are plenty of lineup shifts where 3 wings and a PG make sense. But the best teams have the versatility to go big when necessary OR they have a 4 with legit size AND small-ball skills like Draymond Green, LeBron James, Giannis, etc. Covington is none of those.

Sure but none of those teams has a TownsSure but none of those teams has a Towns. Covington is also a more volume 3 point shooter than all but LeBron. Also the guys you just mentioned are headed toward the hall of game so...yeah. Obviously we need more talent.

The people who liked the idea of Brandon Clarke next to Towns probably should be plenty intrigued by the idea of slotting Covington there instead. I'm also not convinced Rosas is absolutely planning on plugging in Covington as the 4. KBD fits there also and i'd Like to bring back Deng to play some minutes there if that's the route they want to go. He could play a role similar to what Jared Dudley did last year (playing less but be a smart vet guy) for the Nets and should be vet min cheap.

....but that's my point. KAT has yet to demonstrate he can anchor the paint defensively. If he could, by all means, start Covington at the 4.

Well if you play smaller, you should in theory force other teams to play smaller also. And with Kat offensive skill set a traditional center should have a difficult time guarding him on the perimeter making team have to adjust to the matchup.

[Duke13]

What would everyone think of offering Millsap full midlevel for 2 years. Injuries are concern, but dude is still elite when healthy. Love his fit next to Towns.

He'll get way more than that on the open market

He might. But he is 34, so I doubt anyone goes more than 2 years with him....maybe 3. But he seems like a perfect fitto go to a team like the Lakers when they miss out on their 3rd superstar.

Didn't he sign a 3 yr 90 mill contract with a Denver 2 years ago?? Believe he has one more year in Denver. Too old for me.

[TheGrey08]

I won't argue against Cov playing some PF, but I think it makes more sense for him to play a good chunk at SF and to slide him to PF for small ball. Just having that flexibility is great value.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

This is definitely the way the league is going. Covington is 6'9, granted a much different build then Pascal. I like the idea of playing Covington at the 4, most team play this way no. Starting lineups may not also look less traditional like this but a lot of minutes are spent with no big on the floor, with all wings and guards playing. To me this is utilizing Kat, putting spacing around him, for this plan to work he needs to be better defensively. I hate the theory that just because we are bad defensively we need to but another big next to Kat. Flawed thinking in my view! Nice vision Rosas!!

No doubt there are plenty of lineup shifts where 3 wings and a PG make sense. But the best teams have the versatility to go big when necessary OR they have a 4 with legit size AND small-ball skills like Draymond Green, LeBron James, Giannis, etc. Covington is none of those.

Sure but none of those teams has a TownsSure but none of those teams has a Towns. Covington is also a more volume 3 point shooter than all but LeBron. Also the guys you just mentioned are headed toward the hall of game so...yeah. Obviously we need more talent.

The people who liked the idea of Brandon Clarke next to Towns probably should be plenty intrigued by the idea of slotting Covington there instead. I'm also not convinced Rosas is absolutely planning on plugging in Covington as the 4. KBD fits there also and i'd Like to bring back Deng to play some minutes there if that's the route they want to go. He could play a role similar to what Jared Dudley did last year (playing less but be a smart vet guy) for the Nets and should be vet min cheap.

....but that's my point. KAT has yet to demonstrate he can anchor the paint defensively. If he could, by all means, start Covington at the 4.

Well if you play smaller, you should in theory force other teams to play smaller also. And with Kat offensive skill set a traditional center should have a difficult time guarding him on the perimeter making team have to adjust to the matchup.

But why with Covington at the 4? He doesn't have a good enough handle or dribble drive game to punish mis-matches. He's not LeBron or Giannis or Iggy - guys that can play the 4 and handle the ball to get a bigger opponent on their heels.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I don't want Cov as our full time 4 but he did play 1214 possessions playing the 4 in his last year with the Sixers what came to 23% of his total possessions were at the 4

Playing next to Embiid vs. KAT is a big difference there. Embiid is a monster and much more impactful defensively.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The issue to me isn't that RoCo is incapable of ever playing the 4. The issue is the guy he is playing next to. We need a second big in the starting lineup that can offload some of the rebounding, paint protection, and fouling from KAT so he can focus on staying out of early foul trouble and get his offense going early. Let's just call it what it is - KAT has proven incapable of anchoring a defense AND taking on a big offensive load. He needs more help on defense than on offense.

[Monster]

This is definitely the way the league is going. Covington is 6'9, granted a much different build then Pascal. I like the idea of playing Covington at the 4, most team play this way no. Starting lineups may not also look less traditional like this but a lot of minutes are spent with no big on the floor, with all wings and guards playing. To me this is utilizing Kat, putting spacing around him, for this plan to work he needs to be better defensively. I hate the theory that just because we are bad defensively we need to but another big next to Kat. Flawed thinking in my view! Nice vision Rosas!!

No doubt there are plenty of lineup shifts where 3 wings and a PG make sense. But the best teams have the versatility to go big when necessary OR they have a 4 with legit size AND small-ball skills like Draymond Green, LeBron James, Giannis, etc. Covington is none of those.

Sure but none of those teams has a TownsSure but none of those teams has a Towns. Covington is also a more volume 3 point shooter than all but LeBron. Also the guys you just mentioned are headed toward the hall of game so...yeah. Obviously we need more talent.

The people who liked the idea of Brandon Clarke next to Towns probably should be plenty intrigued by the idea of slotting Covington there instead. I'm also not convinced Rosas is absolutely planning on plugging in Covington as the 4. KBD fits there also and i'd Like to bring back Deng to play some minutes there if that's the route they want to go. He could play a role similar to what Jared Dudley did last year (playing less but be a smart vet guy) for the Nets and should be vet min cheap.

....but that's my point. KAT has yet to demonstrate he can anchor the paint defensively. If he could, by all means, start Covington at the 4.

Well if you play smaller, you should in theory force other teams to play smaller also. And with Kat offensive skill set a traditional center should have a difficult time guarding him on the perimeter making team have to adjust to the matchup.

But why with Covington at the 4? He doesn't have a good enough handle or dribble drive game to punish mis-matches. He's not LeBron or Giannis or Iggy - guys that can play the 4 and handle the ball to get a bigger opponent on their heels.

How many 4's are jack up the 3 guys like Covington? What about in transition? As a wing how much does anyone have to really guard him? It seems like more of advantage to have a 4 having to be out on the perimeter for spacing. A wing just has to stay in covington's Area and not get back cut. The offensively fit makes a bunch of sense the defensive fit and especially rebounding I find more worth questioning.

[apollotsg [enjin:6592798]]

Monster - that is what the whole evolution of the new modern basketball is - less plodding big guys with no skill and all height. Have as many capable 3 point shooters to open up the area at the basket for high % shots. Imagine what it will do for Towns - I don't care about Covington's ppg, I care what our highest volume shooter gets. I want Towns 1 on 1 in the paint - not the 3 on 1 we see now. By having another capable shooter to pass the ball to - it makes everyone win.

Our team has had a knack for sticking as many people as we can in the paint. Don't worry - I assure you Towns will crash the paint with reckless abandoned - Wiggins will be lost down there as well. If GD is still on the team you will notice his shoes won't let him out of the paint either.

[MikkeMan]

Mmmm, not sure where you are getting your numbers. At the combine, Siakam beat Covington in height, wingspan, and standing reach by a couple inches and weighed 15 lbs more. The other thing about Siakam is on the offensive side he can actually exploit a mis-match where Covington is simply a stretch 3 or 4 who has a pretty limited offensive arsenal.

I have to admit that I just checked their length and weight from Basketball-reference. There both are listed 6'9 and Siakam weigths 230lbs that would be 5lbs more than Covington's current weight.

Since Siakam's draft measurements were clearly superior compared to Covington's, it's quite probable that he is longer than RC. But we can compare Covington's numbers to power forwards from other top teams.

Covington wingspan 7'1.75, standing reach 8'10 and weight 225lbs
Giannis 7'3, 9'2 and 242lbs
Aminu 7'3.25, 9'0.5 and 220lbs
Siakam 7'3.25, 8'11.5 and 230lbs
Jerami Grant 7'2.75, 8'11 and 220lbs Draymond Green 7'1.25, 8'10 and 230lbs
Thad Young 6'12.5, 8'10 and 221lbs
Millsap 7'1.5 8'9.5 and 246lbs
Marcus Morris 6'10, 8'9.5 and 235lbs
Tobias Harris 6'11, 8'7.5 and 235lbs
Tucker 7' and 245lbs

So it look like most of the top teams won't have starting power forward with kore length than Covington has. And only Tucker, Giannis and Millsap are clearly heavier than him. I think RC would do just fine as starting power forward next season.