What's so Special about Roddy B?

Many of us have wondered this season "What's Wrong with Roddy B?"but now that the Mavs 2nd year guard inches closer to a return to the active roster, we need to answer the question "What's so Special about Roddy B?"

Rodrique Beaubois, affectionaly known in the D-Fdub as "Roddy B", is a bundle of energy and excitement when he steps onto the court. His athleticism allows him to play above the rim on offense and it allows him to stop skilled guards from penetrating on defense. Even though he is raw, and for the most part, untested, many Mavs fans are foaming at the mouth to see Roddy back in action. Why is that? What does Roddy possess that this current roster so desperately lacks?

First of all, we need to realize that Roddy's value is linked directly to the strengths & weaknesses of Jason Kidd. Kidd is an excellent floor general, passer, spot up shooter, and defender, but he doesn't penetrate to score, and he has lost the ability to guard the quick point guards in this league (Tony Parker and Chris Paul are two that come to mind). Roddy can aggresively drive to the hoop to get easy buckets and he can guard the quick, small players that give J.Kidd so much trouble at his age.

Roddy isn't ready to take the reigns and spend significant time at the point, and that's a problem for a basketball player that is only 6'0" and 170 lbs. But, when you are able to put Roddy on the floor with Jason Kidd, Roddy's size is no longer a weakness, but an asset. At 6'4", J.Kidd is a bigger bodied point guard who can guard opposing teams' starting 2-guards.

You can see the Mavs employing this strategy at times when they play JJ Barea and Jason Kidd together at the same time. The problem with JJB is that he can't even guard opposing teams point guards because he is so small. The Mavs often have to resort to their 2-3 defense to hide JJB's defensive deficiencies. In the playoffs, if the Mavs have to play JJB a lot of minutes, other teams will gameplan to expose him for his liabilites and the zone won't be as effective as opponents have several games and practices to get better at picking it apart. Unlike JJ Barea, Roddy is a strength on offense AND on defense.

Another thing that makes Roddy is so special is his breathtaking ability to snag a rebound, race the entire length of the court, and get to the rim with ease to finish. When he steps on the court, teams immediately must adjust to his explosiveness.

Looking at the Mavs current roster, you only have two people that can drive to the hoop and get to the rim with any consistency: Dirk and JJB. The rest of the Mavs rotation consists of spot up shooters (JET, Peja, J.Kidd, DeShawn) or offensive slashers/rebounders (Tyson, Marion). They can stretch the floor, crash the boards, and roll to the hoop for alley-oops, but they can't break down their man off the dribble to get to the cup. Roddy B can. In the playoffs, when defenses really lock down, Roddy B's ability to drive, put pressure opposing defenses, and get to the line to shoot free throws will be a huge benefit to the Mavs.

I'm not sure what Carlisle's plan will be once he has his full arsenal at his disposal (minus Caron Butler), but I'm sure he's more than happy to deal with the problem that he faces. I'd be all for starting Roddy over DeShawn (he's been great, but let's be honest, he's a role player and now he can get back to his role from the bench). That would give the Mavs a starting five of J.Kidd, Roddy, Peja, Dirk, and Tyson Chandler. That lineup can shoot, create their own shot, and play some really good defense.

What makes Roddy B so special isn't that he's a proven, all-star talent, but it's the fact that his skills fill a void that the current Mavs' roster possesses. On any other team, Roddy would be a nice piece and a talented player, but on the Mavs roster, he becomes a need, a must have, something special.