Handwerger: Hornets could use a treat tonight against Kings

NEW ORLEANS – It might only be Oct. 30, but Hornets Head Coach Byron Scott already is looking for a treat.

After Wednesday night’s debacle near the Alamo, a trick would only make things worse.

The Hornets didn’t open the season the way they wanted – or even expected – to.

And tonight in the New Orleans Arena, Scott’s Hornets don’t want any more tricks.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on tonight,” guard Morris Peterson said. “What happened the other night, we took the good and the bad out and moved on. It’s just that simple. We can’t think about the game the other night. We just have to worry about what we can control today.”

What happened the other night is a cautionary tale for this city’s professional basketball season.

For all the talk George Shinn made prior to the season about being more hands on, for all we heard about how Scott and rookies get along, for all we listened to about how the bench got better, well, that’s apparently not happening right now.

Shinn made it a point to say he wanted Scott to develop younger players, but against the Spurs, Darren Collison played only three minutes and Marcus Thornton was inactive.

And, OK, it is awfully early to be making a big stink out of Collison’s minutes and Thornton not being active.

I’ll grant you that.

But when the game was out of hand early in the fourth quarter, why not put Collison in to get him experience? And with Thornton being inactive, when will he get experience enough to get on Scott’s good side?

Scott, for his part, made it clear Friday morning during shoot around that he believes the rookies will have their chance and it may come sooner rather than later.

“It’s just a thing that’s going to take a little bit more time for both of those guys,” Scott said. “By no means do I think they can’t play. Both of them showed in the preseason that they could play and they’ll be a big part of what we do in the future.”

Yet, what we saw Wednesday night was not just about the rookies getting little love from above.

The bench, despite getting supposed upgrades at forward and guard, produced very little. Between Bobby Brown, Peja Stojakovic, Hilton Armstrong, Devin Brown, Darius Songaila and James Posey, the bench had a combined 19 points.

Chris Paul, David West and Emeka Okafor, on the other hand, combined for 62 points.

The same problem that ended the 2008-09 season prematurely struck again. No bench, no depth, no time for Paul or West to get real rest. The weight of the world would appear to again be on their shoulders.

But Friday night is a new night, a different game.

And if things begin to go sour the night before Halloween, we are in a city of voodoo.

Marie Leveau is only a few blocks away.