Rodrigue Beaubois still recovering from second foot surgery

For a championship team, the Dallas Mavericks had their fair share of injury turmoil last season. Dirk Nowitzki’s relatively minor mid-season injury is the kind of obstacle that effective teams can overcome, but losing Caron Butler -- who had arguably been the team’s second best player -- for the season was an incredibly substantial setback, as was the false start on Rodrigue Beaubois’ sophomore campaign. Beaubois was deemed the Mavs’ x-factor from Day 1 of the 2010-2011 season; after a handful of highly productive performances in the season prior (capped with a controversial Game 6 salvo that saw Beaubois dominate his time on the floor before sitting out for almost the entire fourth quarter), Rick Carlisle was reported to finally be ready to play the hyper-athletic guard for significant minutes.

Thanks to nagging injuries and eventual complications, Beaubois’ minutes -- and his entire season -- never really panned out. But after a second foot surgery, Beaubois is again on the rehab trail, with an aim for a healthier result. From Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas:

The 23-year-old from Guadeloupe is still about a month away from running as he rehabs from a second surgery on his left foot, according to agent Bouna Ndiaye. As Mavs fans know, Beaubois fractured his left foot last summer while training with the French national team, underwent surgery and endured a protracted recovery process only to re-injure the foot in the regular-season finale. Ndiaye said Beaubois was never back to 100 percent, which might explain his disappointing stint of 28 games in which he rarely flashed the brilliant speed and driving ability of his rookie season. If the lockout is lifted and Mavs training camp opens on Oct. 4 as scheduled, Beaubois should be at, or close to, full strength.

Beaubois went from the hot new thing in Dallas to a bit of a punchline over the course of a single season, but he still has the potential to be a game-changing player. However, at this point in his career, Beaubois’ incredible athleticism is still his primary means to on-floor productivity, which makes a full recovery that much more important. Anything that tampers with his incredible burst speed could seriously hinder Beaubois’ game, which makes it a bit of a relief to see that he’s taking his rehab process seriously and slowly.