DALLAS – Because of an offseason injury that required surgery, Rodrigue Beaubois has only played 16 games this season.
Thus, the second-year guard is nowhere near where the Dallas Mavericks want him to be. The progress – if slow – is taking more time than the Mavs anticipated.
“He gets closer every day,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’ve got three weeks or so left (in the regular season) and a lot of different kinds of opponents, a lot of different venues.
“I’m not fool enough to say that anybody has arrived. I think he’s a young player.’’
Beaubois, who had surgery after fracturing his left foot on Aug. 13 while practicing with the French national team, is averaging 11.4 points and 2.5 assists while shooting 48.1 percent from the field. While there have been a few bumps in the road, Carlisle has noticed that opposing players have tried to take advantage of Beaubois’ 6-2, rail-thin 182-pound body.
“A lot of people are going to be trying to beat him up like they have in recent games -- get physical with him – and he’s learned from that,’’ Carlisle said. “We’ve been having physical practices, which is good.
“We’ll continue with all that stuff, and as the days pass he’ll gain more experience.’’
Beaubois was a hot-shot rookie last year and a fan favorite, especially after his 40-point game against the Golden State Warriors. The foot injury, however, set him back and he’s still trying to get indoctrinated with the other starters.
Last Sunday against the Warriors, Carlisle took Beaubois out of the game with 7:36 remaining in the first quarter to give him a short lesson on what he’d done wrong. Some 25 seconds later, Beaubois was back in the game.
“Sometimes in games he gets pulled out so I can point something out to him,’’ Carlisle said. “But the biggest thing that he’s done is his conditioning is continuing to get better, he’s gotten more aggressive on the ball defensively, and we just need him to always be in that posture.’’
-- Dwain Price
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