- 4/23/2025
Robert Covington Live From Sixers Youth Foundation Gala
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FunTranscript
00:00Rob, you came on with me probably a month and a half ago, and we talked about you returning,
00:05because it was right after the trade, and so you were just kind of getting your feet wet again back in Philadelphia.
00:09Now you've been here for about a month now. I mean, how's it feel?
00:12It's been over a month.
00:13Yeah, how's it feel now that you're a little bit more reestablished back in the city?
00:17Man, it's going to be great. I've gotten settled in my home, got my family here, got my dogs, animals all settled.
00:24Now it's finally starting to feel like home, like the whole process of moving and everything here.
00:28It took me a little minute. It took me a little minute, but it's nothing like Philly.
00:33It's funny. So one of the last times we talked, Robert pulls me aside in the locker room and goes,
00:39so you live in Jersey, right? I see. He goes, yeah, I'm thinking of looking for houses there.
00:42I said, oh, cool. I gave you some neighborhoods and stuff like that.
00:46I was in the process of moving to the radio station. Didn't see him a week later. He got traded.
00:50I was like, oh, man, I hope you didn't do anything with a house then.
00:54How much fun is it? We were just talking to Marcus being back here.
00:58How about you? I mean, is it like old home? Is it great to be back? Is it full circle?
01:04What is it?
01:04It's full circle, man. I can't tell you how much I miss Philly.
01:07Yeah?
01:07I can't tell you how much. The love here has always been exceptional.
01:12You know, it's crazy. My family still have their Philadelphia gear from back there.
01:16Oh, is that right?
01:16Back there. So, it's like my mom, she went and bought some stuff. And then the following, like I said, that week later, I got traded.
01:24Yeah.
01:25So, she's like, I'm just going to keep this. Like, it's all brand new, everything. And now full circle, now she's back wearing.
01:31That's awesome.
01:32It feels good, man. I can't tell you, like, how much this city means to me.
01:35You know, you proved you were an NBA player the first time you were here. That was the way. And obviously, you traveled. Trades happened. It's a business. And now you come back as an established player. And every fan that we spoke to was so happy to have you back.
01:50Oh, the defense. Oh, we love Covington. Oh, like all the things you can do. Do you recognize maybe that connection that you made by going through the process, proving you could play?
01:58Yeah. You and TJ were really the main two that really proved we're NBA players. Dario was a first round. It's different. It was really y'all two that came, quote, unquote, like out the mud and proved it.
02:10Do you realize the connection that the fans have with you for that reason?
02:13Yeah. Because of the things that we went through. That time was a real trying time. You know, I had a lot of teammates.
02:22Yeah.
02:22I had a lot of teammates that was turning. So, for the simple fact that, you know, for me, TJ,
02:28I'm trying to think of who else. Jeremy Grant might have been. But he was a second round pick.
02:34That's what I'm saying. There's really just a couple guys that had to really just flat out prove they belong in the league.
02:39And you and TJ did it. And other guys, no disrespect to Henry Sims, for example.
02:44Yeah. He was a guy that just didn't stick. It's hard to stick in his league.
02:46From Baltimore.
02:47And you had. So, I think that played. Because the fans really appreciate you and TJ, I feel like,
02:54because of how you guys emerged through a really tough time.
02:57I feel like our stories alone, me and TJ, is a representation of Philly.
03:02You know, my whole upbringing from the times that I had to prove myself time and time again,
03:08it was a Philly story.
03:11And for me to come here and have to do the same exact thing,
03:14it just made it even more, it made it that much more productive and better for me.
03:19Because, like I said, I've always had to prove myself.
03:22And now that I'm at this place, I'm still, I still hold that same chip I had on my shoulder before.
03:28Like, it's never left. Because at the end of the day, to others, in their eyes, I never was supposed to be here in the first place.
03:34So, I still hold on to that.
03:36So, I got time, like, because I'm not going to let nobody just come in and take what I know I can bring.
03:42Nobody's going to forcefully, like, push me out.
03:46I'm going to sit there. I'm giving my all until I can't no more.
03:49I've done that, and I'm literally continuously going to do that.
03:52Because at the end of the day, I have a lot of offers here.
03:54All right, now that you've been here for over a month, you know, again, last time I had you on,
03:57I was trying to talk to you about the team, but you just came back.
04:00So, now you've had some more time.
04:01What's it like?
04:02What are some of the biggest takeaways you've had so far about this team, this Sixers team?
04:06Love them, man.
04:06The way we go, we grind, the way we get out for each other,
04:10the way the camaraderie, chemistry on this team is phenomenal.
04:13And, like I said, it's one of the best teams I've been on.
04:15Like I said, it's one of the best teams, like, just as far as that chemistry and that camaraderie.
04:19It's one of the best that I've been on.
04:20Do you remember where we were when the Sixers picked you up?
04:25Do you remember?
04:27So, we're in this town.
04:29We were in San Antonio.
04:31And they call Robert Covington in, and he's shooting after practice.
04:35So, I'm standing there watching, watching, watching.
04:37Brett Brown comes over.
04:38He goes, Cooney, what are you looking at?
04:39I said, oh, my God, you have an NBA shooter on your team.
04:42Because there wasn't another one on that team.
04:44But your game, so that's how you came in.
04:47And that Brett and I talked about, he's like, that's a legitimate NBA.
04:50He's like, you know, that's a great skill set that he has.
04:52Now you've grown all that.
04:53Like, what was the hardest thing to grow after your shot in the NBA for you?
04:57The defensive aspect.
04:58Yeah.
04:59I've always been an okay defender.
05:01But the way that I am now, I had to build that.
05:05Because I never was a guy that, oh, put me on this guy.
05:09That's my assignment.
05:10It was just I had an idea of what I could do within the team.
05:14Right.
05:14So when I got that assignment, and, you know, shout out to Brett and Lloyd Pierce.
05:20Them were the guys that really entrust me.
05:22Because Brett sat down with me and was like, man, you have a legit skill set that is going
05:25to translate.
05:26But if you can't go and guard nobody, like, we know you're an okay defender.
05:31But if you can't be a phenomenal and exceptional defender, you're not going to last in this league.
05:36And he was right.
05:37He was right.
05:38So the things that me and Lloyd did daily for three years before he left was we got
05:44after him.
05:45We got after him.
05:46He would simulate game-like situations in after workouts, after we just had a hard practice.
05:51He'd be like, all right, come and work with me.
05:52We're going to watch film.
05:54We're going to do this.
05:54We're going to do that.
05:55And then we're going to simulate a couple drills.
05:56It ain't going to be time-consuming.
05:58It's just going to be boom, boom, boom, boom.
06:01Right.
06:01It's going to be game-like situations.
06:03Because we're going to simulate.
06:04You go guard somebody for five, six seconds, hard, and then you got to go run down the
06:09other end, make two threes in a row.
06:12Then you got to come back, guard again, do different scenarios.
06:15Oh, you get a steal, full break layup.
06:17Now you got to come back down and knock down.
06:20Like, it's just the way that he did everything.
06:22It really simulated everything for me and allowed the transition.
06:25Because he actually, like, we studied a lot of him.
06:28And the players that he had me watch, it basically helped groom me into the 3-D player that I am.
06:33Wow.
06:34So Marcus Morris was talking about how the Sixers, this team is deep.
06:37There's a lot of guys.
06:39And there's some crossover situations where maybe he's getting minutes when you can get
06:43minutes or you're getting minutes with somebody else.
06:45Are you comfortable with your current role knowing how talented this roster is, especially
06:51on the win?
06:52Absolutely.
06:53Absolutely.
06:53This team, like I said, I've been on that team before.
06:56Like, when I was in L.A., we was a deep team.
06:58When I was, like, it's just how it is.
07:02It's not that often that you literally have a team that's that deep as far as the players
07:08that they have.
07:09So, you know, when it comes down to it, like, it's situational.
07:13It's situational.
07:14And that's, you can't get discouraged.
07:16You can't do anything that's going to make you plummet.
07:19The main thing is, is that work, work, work.
07:25You know, right now, I'm working my way back to getting back fully healthy.
07:29Work.
07:29That's all it's going to take.
07:30And it's going to translate when it comes down to it.
07:33So that's what it's all about.
07:35Never get, never get discouraged.
07:36And that's the hardest thing about a lot of people is that they get discouraged when
07:39things aren't going that way because of X, Y, Z going on.
07:43I don't have that.
07:44I don't have that.
07:45The way the mentality that I have is that when the time is here, I'm going to seize the moment.
07:50And that's what I always do.
07:51Every time I stepped on the court, whenever the case may be, I didn't play for, when I
07:56was in L.A., I didn't play for 25, 30 games.
08:00Play in Memphis, literally break out and have a good game.
08:04So it's not about the, oh, what am I currently in, like getting discouraged.
08:08It's about literally taking every day.
08:10I used to treat the stay ready games or the rise up games like they call it here as real
08:14life games.
08:16So I used to play them as 28, 30 minutes.
08:20But I'm really like treated as a real game because you never know when the opportunity
08:24is going to come.
08:25So it's that mentality about it.
08:26Before we let you go, has it ever hit you like how deep of a connection?
08:31We talked about your connection with the city and how you're like a Philadelphia story.
08:35But the process in general, you had people fly out to Minnesota, man.
08:39I love it.
08:40There is a banner of Sam Hinckley hanging out at a bar downtown.
08:45Like, did you ever realize how almost cultish the process became in Philadelphia and how
08:50loved you guys were because of it?
08:52Man, you don't understand.
08:54They, I kept, when I used to go out in the city, restaurants, go out to eat, party with
08:59my friends, just do, just doing things in the city.
09:03You never, I never received that much amount of love to where the point where I was like,
09:08I know it's the Anthony, right?
09:09I knew it wasn't nobody would milk.
09:11I knew it wasn't nobody would milk.
09:12But the way that they embraced us in the city was phenomenal.
09:18Phenomenal.
09:19And they kept saying, yo, we got to keep weathering the storm, keep weathering the storm, keep
09:23weathering the storm.
09:23Y'all, y'all, y'all, we love what y'all doing for the city.
09:25We love what y'all doing for the city.
09:26Our time's going to come.
09:28We only a couple years away.
09:29We only a couple years away.
09:30And look what happened.
09:31All of that, a couple years away, turned into Ben Simmons, Markel Foles, Joel V, Jaleel
09:37Okafor.
09:38Like, and the way that this team, the way that this team went, we went from 18 wins to
09:4510 wins to 28 wins to 52 to win, winning 17, 18 straight to end the season.
09:52Yeah.
09:52Yeah.
09:54Without Joel.
09:55Without Joel.
09:55Without Joel.
09:56And people loved you guys throughout the entire thing.
09:58Even the 10 win season.
10:00You were going, you were a season ticket holder.
10:02I was a part of the revolutionaries.
10:03I was one of those losers, man.
10:04I was one of those losers.
10:07They won 10 games.
10:08He was at every game.
10:09It wasn't fun to cover something.
10:11He was at every game.
10:13We had a banner in the locker room that said we would not go down as the worst team in
10:18history.
10:19We had a banner.
10:20I remember that.
10:21And we had games highlighted.
10:22It was like, we have to win this.
10:23We have to win this.
10:24It was a fun time, man.
10:26Because it actually, it went more into the player development aspect of everything.
10:30And that's what allowed us to really thrive.
10:33Because there was no real expectations.
10:34We were just allowed to develop.
10:37And that's what allowed.
10:38That's what happened.
10:38It's awesome, man.
10:40Listen, thank you for stopping by.
10:41We appreciate it so much.
10:43It's great that you're back.
10:44And we're excited for the future of this team, man.
10:46It's going to be a lot of fun this season.
10:47You and me both, baby.
10:48Get healthy.
10:49Hey, I'll be back soon.
10:50There he is.
10:51There's Robert Covington joining us here as we're broadcasting live from the sixth
10:54annual Sixers Gala benefiting the Youth Foundation.
10:58We're here at the Please Touch Museum in an incredible spot.
11:00Thanks, man.
11:00We appreciate it.
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