Gearing up for Mavs season

The Mavericks will begin trickling back into town over the next week or so with players ramping up preparations for training camp, which opens in a scant 19 days. Roddy Beaubois (again, it's BO-BWAH) and Erick Dampier have been in town virtually all summer working out. Dampier, of course, is headed into the final year of his contract and Beaubois, the rookie, is learning not only the NBA ropes, but better English. Had a sit-down with Rick Carlisle recently and there were lots of nuggets to come out of that, which will be detailed in an upcoming DMN story. But here's a little sample about what Carlisle has in store for Beaubois, the 6-2 point guard. It's evident Carlisle is not like some coaches who have great disdain for playing rookies. "He's got tremendous ability,'' Carlisle said. "I'm open-minded when it comes to that stuff. If he's the right guy to play and he can help us, I'll throw him out there. But that's one of the reasons you have training camp and exhibition games, to see what's what with your younger guys.'' There's plenty more to come from Carlisle. Stay tuned. --Eddie Sefko