Where does the Robert Covington of '16-17 fit on next year's Sixers? | David Murphy

One can argue that all reality is relative, but it's way too early for that, so let's just start with the facts as relayed by the 76ers: A key member of this year's Sixers and one of the focal points of the past few years' process had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee today. That player wasn't Joel Embiid, which you probably guessed given the glaring context clues, chief among them, 1) that Embiid's injury occurred in his left knee, and 2) Embiid already had his surgery, nearly a month ago.

But Robert Covington deserves your get-well wishes and topical Build-A-Bear gift packages, too, so don't hang that phone up just yet.

In the meantime, at the risk of making way too much out of a three-paragraph press release issued by the Sixers public relations department, it's worth noting that Covington's prognosis mirrors the one the team issued for Embiid after his late-March surgery.

COVINGTON UPDATE: "Covington will begin his rehabilitation in Philadelphia and is expected to transition back to full weight-bearing in approximately two weeks. Covington is expected to resume basketball activities this summer."

EMBIID UPDATE: "The recovery program that has been established targets Joel transitioning back to full weight-bearing in approximately two weeks, at which point a conservative approach to his rehabilitation will be introduced."

Embiid being Embiid, his surgery was performed by a fancy California-based supersugeon — renowned SportsDoc Neal S. ElAttrache - and his update was accompanied by quotes from Bryan Colangelo and the Sixers director of performance research and development, in addition to the good doctor himself (ElAttrache, not J).

Otherwise, it's fair to say that, at the very least, if the Sixers are engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up the true extent of the knee injury Embiid suffered this winter, they at least got their Covington story straight, whatever the meniscule differences (get it?). Until the Sixers drop their annual summertime Med-Bomb, we have no choice but to assume Embiid is on track to play basketball in training camp.

Now, about Covington ...

A thought occurred to me as I was listening to Brett Brown talk with his usual effusiveness about the steps forward the Sixers took this season and the unmitigated nature of his optimism looking ahead toward next year. Brown was rattling off all the reasons people should be excited about this Sixers team moving forward, and while the top two items on the list came saddled with the ol' health-related asterisk — Embiid and Ben Simmons — after them came a series of names that included Dario Saric, T.J. McConnell, Richaun Holmes and, yes, Covington.

The thought -- wow, that sounds like a lot of names, particularly when considering that the Sixers:

1) will definitely be adding at least one more to that list in the form of their June lottery pick;

2) have a decent chance at adding at least another via free agency (a possibility Brown made sure to mention among his reasons for excitement);

3) have a better-than-even chance at adding another in the form of a second Top 8 draft pick, given that the Lakers will enter the lottery with a 46.9 percent chance to securing a Top 3 pick (if they don't, that pick will go to the Sixers).

For those who can better conceptualize things in list form, here's what the Sixers rotation could look like heading into training camp:

1. Simmons
2. Embiid
3. Saric
4. '17 Lottery Pick A
5. '17 Lottery Pick B
6. '17 Free Agent signing (shooter?)
7. '16 FA signing Jerryd Bayless
8. Everybody else

Note the list of everybody else:

1. Richaun Holmes
2. Covington
3. McConnell
4. Justin Anderson
5. Nik Stauskas
6. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
7. Jahlil Okafor

Granted, it requires a bit of an imagination to think that the assorted probabilities attached to each of the variables in that first list will end up working in the Sixers' favor -- i.e. Simmons, Embiid, Bayless all being healthy and ready to rock with the Sixers having also landed the Lakers pick and signed a decent perimeter type via free agency.

But such a confluence of circumstances is hardly outside of the realm of possibility. Which could end up leaving a lot of Brown's 2016-17 "bright spots" fighting each other for the same minutes.

Now, this is what most coaches would refer to as "a good problem to have," while the most of the rest of us would refer to it as "not a problem at all." None of the guys on the second list ("Everybody Else") are guys an organization should be going out of its way to get onto the court. When Simmons needs a blow, McConnell or one of the Lottery Picks runs the point in a more traditional lineup. Holmes backs up Embiid at the 5 and Saric at the 4.

But where does that leave Covington? Certainly, he's shown that he can fill a role on a good team, given his athleticism and his ability on defense. Yet he is coming off a season in which his three-point percentage dipped to .333, continuing a slide from .374 in 2014-15 to .353 in 2015-16. He was a better player this year because he knew what kind of player he was, attempting just 56.3 percent of his shots from downtown compared with 67.7 the year before in favor of attacking the rim (28.7 percent of his shots came from three feet in, compared with 19 percent the year before).

But none of that is necessarily what the Sixers will need from their three-man next season. Running an offense that features Embiid and Simmons with the ball in their hands will demand that the other three guys on the court create the space for the two of them to work. This is why Nerlens Noel simply could not fit on the court with the two of them, and it's why, barring a dramatic improvement from Saric from downtown, the Sixers will need both their 2 and 3 guards to be able to shoot.

Here's what I'm picturing, lineup wise:

No. 1: Simmons/McConnell
No. 2: Bayless/Lottery Pick A
No. 3:
No. 4: Saric/Holmes
No. 5: Embiid/Holmes

Small forward would seem to be the big question, with Covington and Anderson the two in-house candidates, but with the potential for a FA signing or second lottery pick to give the Sixers more of what they really need out of the position.

There are a lot of moving parts that still have to settle, but it's going to be very interesting to see where Covington ends up fitting in. Again, he'll have a role. But, man, it'd be really nice for both him and the Sixers if he could find that .374 stroke from downtown.