The Dallas Mavericks have shifted Shawn Marion to the bench this preseason in preparation for a role as a back up small forward/power forward this year. In Dallas' last preseason game, here was the line up they went with:Center: Brendan Haywood
Power Forward: Dirk Nowitzki
Small Forward: Caron Butler
Shooting Guard: Dominique Jones
Point Guard: Jason Kidd
The Breakdown
It appears that the Mavericks have decided to start Rodrigue Beaubois at shooting guard when he's healthy in order to bolster their second unit. Dominique Jones figures to start until Beaubois is able to return to action, but Jones shouldn't expect to see too much action when he returns to the bench. Behind Beaubois and Jason Terry, there aren't going to be many minutes left over for Jones.
As for Beaubois, it appears that even though he will start Jason Terry will be the one getting the bulk of the minutes. Beaubois still remains a great sleeper as he could end up with a larger role than we project at this time, but it's going to be impossible to tell in the preseason as we're not going to see how the Mavericks use him until the first few weeks of the regular season.
Finally, Shawn Marion figures to see about 25 minutes a game. This move slightly hurts his fantasy value because he'll have trouble getting significant playing time behind Nowitzki and Butler on a very deep team. He is still rosterable in standard leagues as he'll provide production in across the coard, though he has no upside whatsoever.
