Reason two – he is a volume three-point shooter.
The Blazers need to shoot more threes. Plain and simple. Outside of Damian Lillard, and then the second half of the season explosion by Gary Trent Jr., this team doesn’t take a lot of three-pointers.
They have finished 16th, 17th, 17th, and 12th in three-point shooting volume in the last four seasons. Though these aren’t terrible marks, we all know how analytics work. Three is more than two, and if you have a league-average three-point shooter, those shots are as good as someone who shoots 52 percent from two.
In Robert Covington, the Blazers have a player who has always taken over half of his shots from three. In his career, this means an average of 6.6 a night. His overall percentage of 35.6, combined with this volume, makes him one of the most prolific shooting role players in the league.
The below tweet also illustrates how rare a role player Covington is.
In the past, the Blazers have had defensive players similar to Covington, like Al-Farouq Aminu or Moe Harkless. These players were subpar three-point shooters, so opposition teams didn’t guard them when the Blazers got to the playoffs.
Covington will stroke it from three. He may be streaky, but we know he will take and make many three-pointers in Portland.