The Mavericks are excited for many reasons these days. Winning 11 of 12 does that to a team.
They had some fun after practice when DeShawn Stevenson lightened the wallets of a few teammates by proving he had a standing-vertical jump of more than 35 inches. He topped out at just a shade under 37 inches.
But the subject of Roddy Beaubois has everybody more atwitter than anything.
Count Jason Terry among those who feels the Beaubois unveiling should come Wednesday and should be a a decent run of time.
"This kid's young,'' Terry said. "It'd be different if it was a veteran like myself and I was out six or seven months. But for him, I think you put him out there and see what he's got. It ain't going to hurt. We only got 20-some games left in the regular season. So we need to see now what this kid can do.''
Rick Carlisle, of course, gets paid to be a bit more even-keeled about these sorts of situations.
"He's doing well and the progress is ongoing,'' the coach said of Beaubois. "I'm encouraged. I'm not sure of the timetable. I'm not sure if it's pre-All-Star break or after the All-Star break. But he had a good day today and if he has another good day tomorrow, it's conceivable he could play (Wednesday).''
Eddie Sefko
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/roddy-b-gets-the-ok-to-play----from-jaso.htmlIf the Mavs get production out of Roddy B (meaning 20-25 minutes, probably as the starter) and Caron Butler somehow gets to return for the playoffs, do we have enough to make a serious run in the playoffs? Everyone says we are a player away as of right now, but if Roddy B can get us 12-15 points per game in Butler's absence I think that's almost as efficient as making a solid trade. Butler will obviously take away from Roddy's minutes, but a starting lineup of Chandler/Dirk/Butler/Roddy B/Kidd with Mahimi, Haywood, Marion, Peja, Stevenson, Terry and Barea off the bench sounds incredibly strong!
