Beaubois to back up Kidd; Barea moving to shooting guard | DMN
"He's earned them because he's worked to get better," Carlisle said of the rookie. "I feel he's earned the opportunity to get into the rotation. It's meaningful because he's played mostly off the ball this year. In practices, he's played a fair amount of point and he's studying the position very diligently and we feel like it's another situation where he can help give us an advantage with his quickness, length and speed." Carlisle added that he sees point guard as Beaubois' eventual full-time position.

Friday Morning Mavs Donuts: Morganna The Kissing Bandit Edition! | DB.com
I know he's "young" and he's "learning" and he "makes rookie mistakes," but ... Steve Nash's 19/11 and Andre Miller's 52 and Deron Williams' 18/15 and Monta Ellis' 46 ... How are Roddy Beaubois' youthful mistakes going to inflate opposing PGs' numbers any more than they already are?

Bottom line - Mavericks are closer to the top in West | DMN
Still, the closeness of the eight teams at the top so far gives everybody hope. "That's the beauty of the NBA," said Eduardo Najera. "There's not a whole lot of separation. If the best team is up here, the worst team is not that far away. We just have to get serious every night and make it count so we can get a good seeding, and when we go against these [top] teams, we can have the home-court advantage."

Dirk adds All-Star duties; no invite for Terry | ESPN Dallas
Nowitzki will be part of the Texas team in the Saturday night Shooting Stars competition. He's joined by ex-Rocket/current TNT analyst Kenny Smith and Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver Stars in the competition, which has a current NBA player, retired NBA player and WNBA player on each team.

Dealing Josh Howard | Kelly Dwyer - Ball Don't Lie
And the Mavs? Despite having the third-best record in the league's best conference and the seventh overall, they come across as supremely above-average in all areas. They are 13th in effective field goal percentage, fourth in turnover rate (yay!), 22nd in grabbing offensive rebounds (boo!). They are 19th in free throws made per field goal taken, and 11th in offense. The opposite side of that? Eleventh in defending that effective field goal percentage, 10th in defensive rebounds, tied for 16th in causing turnovers, sixth in limiting teams to get to the line. Eleventh overall.

Sixers' Iguodala To The Mavs? A $108-Mil Question -- And It's About Brand, Not Dalembert
No, the handicap to a Mavs-Sixers deal -- and this comes straight from Mavs HQ -- is that Dallas believes it will have to consider taking on Elton Brand. When Brand is healthy, he's a powerful force. And he's been resurgent in some recent games; he's scored 26 twice in the last four outings. But NBA scouts who watch him regularly tell me they don't see Brand doing much of that into the future ... and for the future, he's still owed $52 million.

Debunking More Myths | Doug Smith's Toronto Star Raptors blog
Yes, that means Toronto has no interest in Howard, have no chats going with Dallas and it’s not going to happen. And another one bites the dust.