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As I watched Goran Dragic drop 26 points on the Spurs last night with 23 of them coming in the 4^th quarter, it made me depressed and it reminded me of the Mavs Rodrigue Beaubois.

Here is a young guy in Dragic, who also like Roddy B, is from overseas and is just getting his NBA career underway. Dragic played a few seasons professionally in Europe, but is only 24 and in his second year in the league after being drafted by the Spurs in 2008. Rodrigue Beaubois just finished up his rookie season where he showed a lot of potential, but there is one big difference between these two players…Dragic was given the chance to succeed.

Goran Dragic appeared in 80 games this season for the Suns. Rodrigue Beaubois appeared in 56 games for the Mavs and in a lot of them, the minutes were meaningless. The Suns have been preparing Dragic all season long and it paid off for them in game three against the Suns. The Mavs ignored Roddy B on many occasions and thought Jason Terry or J.J. Barea would be a better fit.

The other issue I have is that Suns Coach Alvin Gentry was smart enough to realize who had the hot hand and stuck with it. Dragic was on fire in the 4^th quarter and instead of bringing Steve Nash back in the game, he stayed with Dragic and it paid off for him. On the other side of that coin is Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle, who in game six against the Spurs had a hot Roddy B who scored 16 points in 21 minutes. That apparently wasn’t good enough because Rick Carlisle decided to bring Jason Terry back into the game for a majority of the 4^th quarter and the Mavericks ended up losing the game and ending their season.

It is amazing what happens when a coach shows faith in a player and puts him in situations to succeed. I think a lot of coaches tend to use their veteran players as crutches and leaning on them too much can end up becoming a bad thing. This was an example of two different coaching philosophies from two different coaches and one is sitting at home while the other looks to be advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

I’m a HUGE Roddy B fan. I like how the guy plays and what he brings to the table, but Mavs fans need to slow down just a little bit before crowning him as the next great thing.

Yes, Beaubois has a tremendous upside and I am glad that Coach Carlisle has actually been giving him minutes as of late, but there was a two minute stretch in last night’s game against the Grizzlies that showed why Carlise has to sometimes limit the rookie.

Look at this stretch right here in the middle of the 2^nd quarter.

8:33- Rodrigue Beaubois inbound turnover

8:18- Rodrigue Beaubois turnover (29-31)

7:58- Jason Terry makes layup (Rodrigue Beaubois assists) (31-31)

7:33- Rodrigue Beaubois lane violation (31-31)

7:16- Rodrigue Beaubois shooting foul (Zach Randolph draws the foul) (31-31)

6:35- Rodrigue Beaubois inbound foul (Marcus Williams draws the foul)

Roddy had 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, and a lane violation all in a two minute window. I think those types of mistakes are the reasons why Beaubois has seen limited action at certain points of the season. Plus, you throw in the fact that his defense is spotty at times and the Mavs are competing for a championship and I can see why Coach Carlisle has been reluctant to play him at times. If you notice, a lot of Roddy’s good performances have come against the poorer teams in the NBA.

Like I said above, I’m glad he is finally seeing playing time, and I think it’s the right decision, but we also need to put the Mavs flavored Kool-Aid down and trust that Coach Carlisle is doing the right thing.

I’m a HUGE Roddy B fan. I like how the guy plays and what he brings to the table, but Mavs fans need to slow down just a little bit before crowning him as the next great thing.

Yes, Beaubois has a tremendous upside and I am glad that Coach Carlisle has actually been giving him minutes as of late, but there was a two minute stretch in last night’s game against the Grizzlies that showed why Carlise has to sometimes limit the rookie.

Look at this stretch right here in the middle of the 2^nd quarter.

8:33- Rodrigue Beaubois inbound turnover

8:18- Rodrigue Beaubois turnover (29-31)

7:58- Jason Terry makes layup (Rodrigue Beaubois assists) (31-31)

7:33- Rodrigue Beaubois lane violation (31-31)

7:16- Rodrigue Beaubois shooting foul (Zach Randolph draws the foul) (31-31)

6:35- Rodrigue Beaubois inbound foul (Marcus Williams draws the foul)

Roddy had 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, and a lane violation all in a two minute window. I think those types of mistakes are the reasons why Beaubois has seen limited action at certain points of the season. Plus, you throw in the fact that his defense is spotty at times and the Mavs are competing for a championship and I can see why Coach Carlisle has been reluctant to play him at times. If you notice, a lot of Roddy’s good performances have come against the poorer teams in the NBA.

Like I said above, I’m glad he is finally seeing playing time, and I think it’s the right decision, but we also need to put the Mavs flavored Kool-Aid down and trust that Coach Carlisle is doing the right thing.

Mavs get their first preseason win of the season tonight defeating the Wizards (who the Mavs open the regular season with) 123-115. I think there were a lot of positives to come out of this game, and even though it is preseason, Mav fans should be getting excited about this team.

- Welcome to Dallas Shawn Marion. Wow, what a performance he put on. Marion finished the game with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in 30 minutes. The Matrix was scoring inside, outside, slashing to the bucket, and finishing at the rim. What a great compliment to Jason Kidd this guy will be. It is great to see a player on the Mavs who will slash and not settle for the jump shot. Trust me that The Matrix will be a difference maker this season.

- Dirk looked pretty good in his 24 minutes of action. The Big German dropped 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. His shot was going for him a lot better in this game than it was versus Orlando on Monday night.

- Jason Kidd continued his hot three point shooting from last season as he was 4-for-7 from behind the arc and finished with 15 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes of work. If teams continue to leave him open, he has shown that he can drain the deep shot.

- The second most impressive Mav of the night was Rodrigue Beaubois aka Roddy Buckets. Im trying not to get too excited here, but I am liking this pick more and more every day. Roddy was all over the court, making shots, dunks, getting steals. Everything you could ask for. Beaubois only got 9 minutes during trash time in the Mavs first preseason game, but tonight he got 21 minutes and a lot of it with the first team as he started the second half. Rowdy Roddy finished the game with 14 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 turnover. I think Coach Carlisle has to be pretty pleased with performance.

- The replacement officials were a little better tonight. There werent as many touchy fouls as in Monday’s game against Orlando. There were only 60 fouls for 85 free throws versus the game against the Magic which had 64 fouls for 92 free throws.

The Mavs are in action again on Monday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Tip time is scheduled for 6:00 PM. Catch all the action on 103.3 FM ESPN radio or on HDNet for the TV coverage.

Full Box Score

Mavs get their first preseason win of the season tonight defeating the Wizards (who the Mavs open the regular season with) 123-115. I think there were a lot of positives to come out of this game, and even though it is preseason, Mav fans should be getting excited about this team.

- Welcome to Dallas Shawn Marion. Wow, what a performance he put on. Marion finished the game with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in 30 minutes. The Matrix was scoring inside, outside, slashing to the bucket, and finishing at the rim. What a great compliment to Jason Kidd this guy will be. It is great to see a player on the Mavs who will slash and not settle for the jump shot. Trust me that The Matrix will be a difference maker this season.

- Dirk looked pretty good in his 24 minutes of action. The Big German dropped 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. His shot was going for him a lot better in this game than it was versus Orlando on Monday night.

- Jason Kidd continued his hot three point shooting from last season as he was 4-for-7 from behind the arc and finished with 15 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes of work. If teams continue to leave him open, he has shown that he can drain the deep shot.

- The second most impressive Mav of the night was Rodrigue Beaubois aka Roddy Buckets. Im trying not to get too excited here, but I am liking this pick more and more every day. Roddy was all over the court, making shots, dunks, getting steals. Everything you could ask for. Beaubois only got 9 minutes during trash time in the Mavs first preseason game, but tonight he got 21 minutes and a lot of it with the first team as he started the second half. Rowdy Roddy finished the game with 14 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 turnover. I think Coach Carlisle has to be pretty pleased with performance.

- The replacement officials were a little better tonight. There werent as many touchy fouls as in Monday’s game against Orlando. There were only 60 fouls for 85 free throws versus the game against the Magic which had 64 fouls for 92 free throws.

The Mavs are in action again on Monday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Tip time is scheduled for 6:00 PM. Catch all the action on 103.3 FM ESPN radio or on HDNet for the TV coverage.

Full Box Score

The Mavs dropped their first preseason game of the season last night 110-105 to the Magic at the AAC. That score shouldn’t worry anyone as the Mavs played without Josh Howard, Shawn Marion, and Tim Thomas. Here are a few quick thoughts.

- I was impressed with what I saw from Drew Gooden especially on the offensive end. He made the right decisions and made some good shots. I am anxious to see how much Gooden can contribute this season. If the Mavs get 18 and 6 from him every night, that is going to be a huge help.

- I was also impressed with Kris Humphries. He finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds and it looks as if he could be the guy to replace Brandon Bass. He looked athletic and physical and he could be a valuable addition to the bench.

- Roddy Buckets only got 9 minutes so we didn’t get to see much. Beaubois seemed a little hesitant, but it is his first NBA game so that is to be expected. The kid is super fast though and has gained a lot of hype through training camp and preseason.

- J.J. Barea looked ok. It looked to me that he was throwing up a lot of shots though. J.J. finished 5 of 13 from the field and had 17 points.

- Super disappointed that Shawn Marion didn’t play. I missed Fan Jam so I wasn’t able to see him there and he missed last night with a calf problem. The injury is nothing serious and had this been a regular season game, The Matrix would have played.

- I was in attendance for the game last night and the new HD screens at the AAC are amazing! The ones over center court are big and crystal clear. The ones on each ends of the stadium are nice also. They show game action in the center and have stats on each side.