CHARLOTTE (7-7)
AT DETROIT (9-5)

7:30 p.m., Charlotte Coliseum

Radio: WBT-AM (1110)

SCOUTING REPORT

The Pistons lead the NBA in field-goal accuracy at 47.6 percent. But the Hornets outrebounded them 45-18 Wednesday.

Pistons point guard Dana Barros was limited to three minutes Wednesday by a hamstring injury. Chucky Atkins filled in with a 25-point game off the bench.

Former Charlotte 49ers star Rodney White, the Pistons' lottery pick in June, hasn't played in five of Detroit's past six games.

Baron Davis is the Charlotte Hornets' best player. Jamal Mashburn, who is injured, is very good at what he does and P.J. Brown is very good at what he does, but a point guard is more valuable than a small forward or power forward because his skills are more rare.

Look around the league. How many players do you see with the touch to hit from 22 feet and the strength to score from beneath the rim, the willingness to look for a teammate and the skill to find him, plus the ability to beat his man anytime he chooses?

Davis does all this, as you saw in his 38-point, four-assist performance Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons, a team the Hornets play again tonight at Charlotte Coliseum.

What Davis had not been able to do, at least not until last week, is make the team his. As loud as his game is, he's not the type to stand on a locker-room chair and announce he has taken over. He's only 22 and in only his third season, and because good veteran players have surrounded him since he arrived, he has always been free not to lead.

That freedom has been revoked. For the 7-7 Hornets to do anything, they have to be his.

Are they?

"Yeah, definitely," Davis says from the bleachers Thursday after practice. "I'm the point guard and it's up to me."

Two weeks ago, Stacey Augmon was wasting away on the Charlotte Hornets' bench not sure when he'd ever work his way back into the rotation.

Two weeks ago, Augmon was looking like the team's biggest free-agent bust of the off-season.

But that's all changed in recent days, and Augmon suddenly finds himself playing a significant role and making a key contribution to the Hornets' newfound success.

It turns out that all he needed was time - time to fit in with his new teammates, and playing time to find his rhythm.

"There's not anything special going on," Augmon said as the Hornets prepared for tonight's game against the Detroit Pistons at the Charlotte Coliseum. "I'm just getting out there and getting a chance to play. It's hard when you're not playing much, but right now the opportunity is presenting itself and I'm trying to make the best of it."

Coach Paul Silas said he couldn't be happier with the way things have worked out.

Silas needed someone - everyone - to step up and come through after Jamal Mashburn went on the injured list last week, and Augmon has definitely answered the call.

"He's a vet, he knows how to play the game, and he's really coming through right now," Silas said. "I think it was just a matter of him getting out there and getting familiar with what we're doing and getting his confidence up a little, and when all that happened he started playing harder, too. It's one of those things where everything is just falling into place right now."

Even with forward Jamal Mashburn out of the lineup the Charlotte Hornets are not taking any chances with their other injured forward George Lynch.  Acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Sixers prior to the start of the season, Lynch has not suited up for the Charlotte Hornets due to healing problems in his injured foot, which required additional surgery.

Lynch has now been cleared to start exercizing on a stationary bicycle, and he is saying he could be cleared to start practicing as soon as Dec.21. The Hornets however do not want to rush him back and risk further injury, planning on activating him around Jan.1.

"We're looking at this thing long-term. He's going to be an integral part of our team and we can't afford for him to come back too quickly" Hornets coach Paul Silas said.

Hornets co-owner Ray Wooldridge has gone on the record as stating that Louisville is the front-runners to land the Hornets, although he did not specifically say if Charlotte was excluded in this basis.  The Hornets are looking outside Charlotte after voters rejected a June referendum question that included a new arena.

"Louisville ... is our primary choice. You have it up to a point. Our objective is to make a decision in the first couple of weeks of January," Wooldridge said.

Matt Bullard says if he were coach, he?d have benched himself for his slow start.

His coach, Paul Silas, admits it would have been easy to agree with such a strategy.

But with the Charlotte Hornets? leading returning scorer, Jamal Mashburn, out of action indefinitely, getting production off the bench is imperative.

Even if it comes with growing pains.

"We?re searching right now for guys that can give us a lift," said Silas, whose Hornets host Detroit tonight at 7:30. "We just have to find bench guys that can help us."

Thus far in the season, the Hornets? bench has risen and fallen like a rollercoaster ride in an amusement park.

Just when it appears Silas has found the right combination, an injury or subpar play seems to strike immediately.

Dan "the Horse" Issel thinks Louisville can be successful as an NBA franchise for a relocated Charlotte Hornets team.  Issel comments on the possible move in today's Denver Post from his perspective as a former University of Kentucky and ABA Kentucky Colonels star.  Issel doesn't think the Grizzlies would have been a success in Louisville because of the need to put a winner on the floor to attract fans and the competition from university basketball.  One wonders why somebody in Michael Heisley's group didn't mention that to him when the Grizzlies moved to Memphis.

"But in Charlotte, you're getting one of the best teams in the league. There is no built in audience or student body or alumni association. You fill seats when you win. Kentucky and (nearby) Indiana are great basketball places. And you put a team as good as Charlotte in Louisville, I don't think there is any question that it succeeds."

Today Hornets Co-owner continues his trek to find a new home for his franchise, flying back to Louisville to view what he admitted was a sketchy plan.  Experts in Kentucky and Charlotte cast doubt Wednesday on whether the plan which was outlined by Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong was workable.

"I don't see land addressed. I don't see infrastructure addressed," Charlotte Coliseum Managing Director Mike Crum said.  Crum believed that the plan did not specifically address several key costs beyond construction, which the Coliseum has.

"I'd like to see how you'd cover operating costs and capital costs, and debt-service costs, and at the end of the day have enough left over to make a positive contribution to paying for an NBA team in a secondary market," Crum said.

Yes, you read correctly.  Hornets forward PJ Brown by himself outrebounded the entire Detroit Pistons team yesterday, with the Pistons total of 18 setting a new NBA record low.  Despite the lack of rebounding - Ben Wallace finished with half of the total - the Pistons were still in the game, pulling within 3 with six minutes left after trailing by 23 during the third quarter.

Baron Davis led the Hornets scoring, netting 28 on 15 of 20 shooting.  "I was in a nice rhythm," Davis said. "It felt good. It makes you want to shoot more, but you have to be conscious of the clock, your teammates and getting good shots."

CHARLOTTE

Jamal Mashburn still hasn't decided what to do about the strained abdominal muscle that has forced him onto the Charlotte Hornets' injured list.

But in this case, no news seems to be bad news - and the Hornets are now proceeding on the notion that Mashburn won't be back in action anytime soon.

Team officials confirmed yesterday that Mashburn had two options for dealing with the injury, and neither involves returning to action in the coming weeks.

He can either rest and hope that the injury heals over the course of a month or so, or he can undergo surgery. Arthroscopic surgery would likely keep him out of action for at least two months, and more complicated surgery to reattach the muscle might cause him to miss the rest of the season.

"At this point, we're proceeding as if he's not going to be here anytime soon," Coach Paul Silas said. "What exactly that means long term, I don't know. He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet and until he does, there's no way we can know anything definitive. But if the options are rest or surgery, it's pretty obvious he's not going to be playing for a while."

The Hornets, 6-7 after a 103-101 win at Orlando on Saturday, will return to action tonight at Detroit.

Mashburn, the team's second-leading scorer this season at 18 points a game through nine games, has missed the past four games. He was put on the injured list last Tuesday with what was originally termed a pulled groin and later changed to a strained abdominal muscle. At that time, team officials said they were hopeful Mashburn could return to action this weekend for the start of a six-game trip.