In sports, there are certain players that are so overwhelming with their phsyical gifts, that it compensates for other deficiencies in their game. Even if they don’t grasp every facet of the game, they’re such a force of nature, you can’t keep them off the field. Or court. Or ice. This is Rodrigue Beaubois, via Slamonline.com:
The Morning After: Why Didn’t The Mavericks Play Rodrigue Beaubois?
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↵The best way to describe Beaubois’ game is blurry. He makes Tony Parker look slightly gimpy. He has one of the fastest 40’ times in the history of the draft. He can penetrate and finish with both hands. He has almost comically springy hops — he was Jason Kidd’s primary alley-oop target all season ... He shot 52 percent from the floor, 41 percent from 3, and 81 percent from the free throw line this season.
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↵On a Dallas Mavericks team full of graying veterans, “Roddy Buckets” was a lightning bolt. Except... In the Mavs’ first round loss to the Spurs, here were his minute totals:
↵↵Game One: DNP, Game Two: DNP Game Three: 5:17 Game Four: DNP Game Five: 4:43 Game Six: 20:57
↵↵Last night, in the first meaningful playing time he’d played in the series, Beaubois scored 16 points, and more important, injected life into an otherwise stagnant Mavs offense. And that’s how the Mavs looked for much of this series.
↵Not bad, exactly, just... Stale.
↵The rationale for NOT playing Beaubois was, roughly, that he can’t defend the pick-and-roll, and his command of the Mavericks’ offense was subpar. But that’s idiotic. Again, some guys are just so outrageously athletic that you can’t lose putting them out there. The pressure he puts on the defense tilts the whole court in your favor. And let’s not overstate his deficiencies for the sake of defending Rick Carlisle. If Jason Kidd can limp around on defense for 35 minutes-a-night, they could thrown Roddy out there for 20.
↵(clearing throat) ... HOW COULD YOU NOT PLAY THIS GUY?!
↵Whatever the reason, Mavs coach Rick Carlise has the rest of the playoffs to think about it.
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