Roddy inspiring memories of Finley

I remember back to a crazy 1998 night in Reunion Arena when the lowly, pre-Cuban Dallas Mavericks shocked the world and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, 104-97, in front of the largest crowd in the history of the arena. That night a young guard still in his infancy with the Mavericks, Michael Finley, led the way. His amazing quickness, elite athleticism and dynamic scoring ability resulted in 32 points in the stunning upset.

There was no Steve Nash or Dirk Nowitzki. Before the "Big Three", Finley stood alone as The One, the clear cornerstone of the Dallas franchise. Coupled with the future league MVPs Nash and Nowitzki, he helped lead the Mavs to a decade of success. And while he hasn't been a part of the organization since 2004, the Mavs haven't had a player with the abilities of No. 4 since.

Until last night? It's entirely possible.

Rookie guard Rodrigue Beaubois continued displaying his hot hand, dropping 40 points for Dallas in a runaway win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, 111-90, in Oakland. And while Beaubois isn't a physical carbon-copy of Finley, standing seven inches shorter and weighing more than 50 pounds less, if you squint your eyes watching Beaubois, you'll see more than a hint of Finley.

Obviously Dirk is the franchise player, the greatest Maverick ever, and more important to any other player in terms of the success of this franchise for the next five years, at least. But it certainly can't hurt to have someone like Roddy B emerging from the depths of the bench as a surprise Tonto to Dirk's Lone Ranger act.

Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler and Shawn Marrion are now all key cogs in this machine, but since the club said goodbye to Marquise Daniels, traded away Devin Harris for Kidd during the 2007-08 season, and sent Josh Howard to Washington earlier this season, it's been fair to wonder about the youth of this franchise.

Roddy the rookie is the youth movement for this franchise. And while head coach Rick Carlisle now has to figure out where to find more minutes for the youngster, who is more deserving with each performance, it's nice to see someone other than J.J. Barea who isn't already carrying an NBA AARP card.

Here's the current Mavericks 2009-10 roster by age:

Team Roster
NO.	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE	2009 - 2010 SALARY
3	Rodrigue Beaubois	G	22	6-0	170		$1,075,440
11	Jose Juan Barea	PG	25	6-0	175	Northeastern	$1,657,500
92	DeShawn Stevenson	SG	28	6-5	218		$3,883,929
13	Matt Carroll	SG	29	6-6	212	Notre Dame	$4,700,000
4	Caron Butler	SF	30	6-7	228	Connecticut	$9,780,970
33	Brendan Haywood	C	30	7-0	263	North Carolina	$6,000,000
0	Shawn Marion	SF	31	6-7	228	UNLV	$6,635,068
41	Dirk Nowitzki	PF	31	7-0	245		$19,795,714
31	Jason Terry	SG	32	6-2	180	Arizona	$9,075,000
14	Eduardo Najera	PF	33	6-8	235	Oklahoma	$3,000,000
7	Tim Thomas	PF	33	6-10	240	Villanova	$825,497
25	Erick Dampier	C	34	6-11	265	Mississippi State	$12,115,500
2	Jason Kidd	PG	37	6-4	210	California	$8,100,000