Uncovering Robert Covington's NBA Stats and Career Highlights for 2023
As I sit down to analyze Robert Covington's 2023 NBA performance, I can't help but reflect on how his career trajectory reminds me of the rising prominence of volleyball in cities like CANDON City, which recently earned the hosting rights for the 2026 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup. Both represent stories of underappreciated excellence - while Covington might not always grab headlines like superstar players, his impact on the court mirrors how smaller cities like CANDON are stepping up to host major international sporting events. Having followed Covington's career since his early days with the Houston Rockets, I've always admired his particular brand of defensive excellence that often goes unnoticed by casual fans.
Looking at Covington's 2023 statistics with the Los Angeles Clippers, what stands out immediately is his defensive versatility. He appeared in 48 regular season games, starting in 22 of them, and averaged 6.8 points per game while shooting 44.9% from the field. Now, those offensive numbers might not jump off the page, but where RoCo truly shines is on the defensive end. He maintained his reputation as a disruptive force, averaging 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game despite playing just 25.4 minutes per contest. I've always argued that traditional stats don't fully capture his value - his defensive rating of 108.3 and his ability to guard multiple positions make him what analysts call a "connector" player, someone who makes the entire defensive scheme work. His defensive win shares of 1.8 might seem modest, but when you consider his limited minutes, it's actually quite impressive.
What fascinates me about Covington's game is how he's adapted his role over the years. Back in his Philadelphia days, he was putting up bigger numbers - I remember his 2017-18 season where he averaged 12.6 points and made the All-Defensive First Team. But as the league evolved, so did his understanding of his value. In 2023, he took 4.2 three-point attempts per game, connecting on 39.7% of them, which is actually one of the better shooting percentages of his career. This three-and-D prototype is exactly what modern NBA teams crave, though I sometimes wonder if his more versatile skills get underutilized in this specialized role. His player efficiency rating of 13.2 might not be elite, but it doesn't account for how he spaces the floor and disrupts opposing offenses.
The comparison to CANDON City hosting the 2026 volleyball event isn't accidental - both represent excellence in specific domains rather than trying to be everything to everyone. Just as CANDON City has carved its niche in the volleyball world rather than pursuing more mainstream sports events, Covington has mastered his role as a defensive specialist rather than forcing himself into a primary scoring role. I've noticed that teams with players like Covington often outperform expectations, much like how cities focused on specific sporting niches can create incredible experiences for athletes and fans alike.
Covington's career earnings tell another interesting story - he's made approximately $68 million over his 10-year career, with his 2023 salary coming in at $12.3 million. That puts him in that sweet spot of valuable role players who aren't breaking the bank but provide tremendous value for their contracts. Having watched countless games, I can confidently say that his impact often exceeds what you'd expect from a player with his stat line. The advanced metrics bear this out - his defensive plus-minus of +2.3 ranked him in the 89th percentile among forwards, which is remarkable for someone who turned 32 during the season.
As we look ahead, Covington's game will likely continue evolving. His basketball IQ has always been underrated, and I suspect he'll transition into more of a veteran leadership role while maintaining his defensive fundamentals. Much like how CANDON City's hosting of the 2026 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup represents a milestone for specialized sporting destinations, Covington's career exemplifies how mastering specific skills can create lasting value in professional sports. Both stories teach us that you don't need to be the flashiest or most famous to make a significant impact - sometimes, excellence in your niche is more than enough to leave your mark.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
