Post#31 » by phillynative » Mon Dec 4, 2023 11:08 pm
He did a pretty good job versus Tatum the other night, was very disruptive and had a good overrall game. Whats not being talked about is the way he frustrated Tatum and helped cause him to get tossed. Cov is no longer a starter in this league but still valuable off the bench. I think him and Oubre offer the mixture of length and athleticism at the wing spot that the Sixers haven't been able to throw at the Celtics in a while.
Last season our wing depth was Tobi, Tucker, House, Melton. That is nothing to be afraid of if you are a high level wing. Tobi and Tucker are good defenders but when you realize athletically theres nothing they can do and House and Melton are too small. The only reason the Sixers had any defensive success against strong wings was Embiid playing goalie in the paint.
Watching Oubre defend Tatum well earlier this season and Cov recently is a huge plus. Tatum is the type of player that has a edge because of his mixture of skill, size and length at his position (sf/pf). Mostly his ability to shoot over smaller defenders or skilled enough to get to his spots before bigger defenders. Tatum is a big forward and he's closer to Durant's size than Paul Pierce(who he's compared to). When you put a defender in front him that has similar measurables (6-7-6-9)(7ftplus wingspan); Oubre/Cov. It makes his ability to get going much more difficult. This gives me some hope and enthusiasm if we were to clash again in the playoffs we won't be hopeless in a Tatum scoring explosion.
In the Celtics vs Warriors playoff series 22' . Tatum struggled to get comfortable offensively. The warriors stuck 6'8 7ft wingspan athlete Wiggins on Tatutm. Every time I watched the series either Wiggins was contesting Tatum shots and than you had Draymond and Thompson who have the size and are above average defenders helping and switching onto him. It gave him alot of problems. There was no way he would have had a last minute 50 pt explosion against that personnel of players like he did the sixers. Once a player like that gets going you have to atleast have the personnel to cool him down.
The sixers didn't last series but I have a little more faith with Cov/Oubre...