Ben Collins

There have been some really interesting developments, practically out of the blue, in the past few days for the Dallas Mavericks and one single roster spot. The Mavs all of a sudden are in serious developments with Europe’s arguably most popular basketball player, Virtus Bologna veteran Antoine Rigaudeau. In order to sign another player, though, one must be waived, and in this case it was rookie Adam Harrington.

It’s all right, he’ll probably get picked up by another team off of waivers, like by Denver. They really, desperately need a point guard. The only guard they have is Chris Whitney and he’s hurt. I’m sure they’ll be willing to give Harrington a shot. In a place like that, he can contribute, produce, and grow to learn how great a player he is and can be. If he plays somewhere, he’ll lose the nervousness, hit some shots, and prove to people he can play in the NBA. In fact, I think if he plays well in a team that would be willing to pick him up, say a Denver, Cleveland, or Toronto, he might be able to start and would be a great addition to a ball club like that. Hey, it could be the Raptors, too, they’re fairly desperate if they’re looking at Art Long and Rafer Alston (even though Rafer is a fairly good player). But, wherever he goes, he’s probably better off because he’ll get playing time and he might be a very good player in this league in five years. We just don’t have the patience, quite frankly, and I hope he makes us sorry some day.

That’s where Rigaudeau is better right now, we want to win a title this season. I feel bad and I feel that it might mess up team chemistry a little, considering I hear he’s pretty good friends with the players, like Dirk and Steve. Nonetheless, even if he doesn’t get signed, he got a great few months of his life with a winning NBA ball club and met some great guys.

Adam can dunk. Adam can shoot. Adam can play. Time will tell, though, and I hope he gets another shot elsewhere because I know he’ll make the best of it.

Now, though, the really good news. Antoine Rigaudeu. Who is this guy? Well, up until today, I had absolutely no idea. I had to look this guy up, ask some people, and I did get this general consensus from people: Antoine is a great player from Europe that they’ve wanted for a good while. He’s from France, yet he plays in Italy, and he may be the best left that’s available in Europe. And he undoubtedly is the most popular player in Europe if he was granted permission to leave. He’s 31.

I can see your faces right now. “What? 31? That’s middle aged for a basketball career. Right?” Yes. Of course it is. That’s the point. We want somebody on our team who can come in, produce right now, and not get nervous because he’s not used to playing pro basketball. When he comes in here, he won’t need a few years to develop as a ballplayer. He’s already developed as a basketball player and if any great import is as can’t miss as you can get with a foreign player. His popularity helps as well because of all the support from overseas. He’s very popular ( ::HOW POPULAR IS HE?:: ), he’s so popular that there are posters of him all over Europe and fans would “burn down the arena” if he left for the United States. But, most importantly, he’s loved by the fans so much, and that they think he’s so good, they call him, “Le Roi,” or The King in French. Well, that’s a really good sign. If we can get a possible veteran starter in exchange for practically nothing, I really, really like the sounds of that. And if things go well, long live the King!

I hoped you liked the column this week, keep those e-mails comin’ to bencollins@attbi.com and keep voting for Dirk, Steve, and Michael!