ShareThisIt was too early to rip the Dallas Mavericks and declare the New Jersey Nets as winners (nobody has done that in a while) a year ago over the Jason Kidd trade.
That was when guard Devin Harris was flourishing, averaging 21.3 points per game. He made the All-Star team.
And despite the midseason trade, the Mavericks had been bounced in the first round after the arrival of Kidd. They then fired Avery Johnson.
So knowing that about rash judgments, I won't say today that the Nets were taken to the cleaners on the deal. Yet!
But it's safe to say that the Mavericks wouldn't rescind the deal if given the chance. They are having their cake and eating it, too.
Jason Kidd has been as advertised, an aging but very effective Hall of Fame point guard. That was supposed to be the trade-off. Young and improving for old and wise.
But it looks like the Mavericks still have their Devin Harris. His name is Roddy Beaubois, a rookie from France. He's raw, but amazingly athletic.
His coach knows one night he's a difference-maker, but the next isn't sure if he should be out there for major minutes. Sounds kind of like Avery Johnson and Devin Harris.
Just as Harris would have benefited from playing with and behind Steve Nash, it has to spur the development of Beaubois to have Kidd there as a live-and-in-color training seminar on the finer points of NBA point guard play.
Beaubois started a few games early in the season at shooting guard and had a few SportsCenter highlight dunks as well as some moments as a defensive ace. But he had fallen behind J.J. Barea, who lacks the upside of Beaubois, but has more trust in coach Rick Carlisle's bank. Or at least he did until the past seven days.
Well, Jason Terry's broken orbital bone a week ago, has opened up an opportunity for Beaubois.
Beaubois answered the challenge with three consecutive career nights -- 17 points against Minnesota, 22 against the Kings and 24 against the Bulls.
Losing their second-best fourth-quarter player in Terry hasn't stopped the Mavericks, who nabbed their 12th straight win on Monday night at Minnesota as Beaubois turned in a steady if unspectacular performance (11 points, five rebounds, four assists in 21 minutes).
It's no wonder that every time the Mavericks answered the phone before the trade deadline, someone was wanting to get their hands on the rookie. That'll probably happen again this summer.
A great note by DallasBasketball.com showed Beaubois was the first shooter to make 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent on free throws as a rookie (he fill below the 40-pct. mark from 3-point range Monday night going 0-for-3 beyond the arc).
There are still five weeks to go, but Beaubois is proving to be quite the draft day steal at No. 25 last June. He is averaging 18 points on 56-percent shooting in the last four games. He won't keep that up, but he has earned a spot in the playoff rotation.
And the Mavericks are pretty happy about the old guy leading the backcourt, too.
As for Harris, he has become the best player on the NBA's worst team. Probably not what he imagined after being the most exciting player on the only Western Conference champion in Mavericks' history.
(Andy Newberry writes for the Wichita Falls Times Record News in Texas.)
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