"IT IS a rite of passage with NBA teams. The veterans always have something for the rookies to do. Bring the coffee. Buy the doughnuts. Deliver the newspapers.

Or, in the case of Charlotte Bobcats rookies Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown, wear various colorful, sometimes sparkly, backpacks.

"The sillier the better," Bobcats coach Larry Brown was saying before last night's game against the 76ers. "They got Gerald a North Carolina one."

They even got Bobcats guard Ray Felton, a former Tar Heel, to sign it. That would be Gerald Henderson, of Duke.

"He told me he burned it," Brown said, laughing.

"That's what I told him," said Henderson, the onetime Episcopal Academy star. "That's what I should have done. It's somewhere long lost in my apartment. Now, they gave me a pink one. That's OK. That's better than Carolina. Anything is better than that."

That's one side of being a rookie, even for the No. 12 pick in the June draft.

"In time, he's going to be a heck of a player," Brown said. "The trade we made might help him, because [management] wants me to figure out a way to play him."

The trade, finalized Monday, brought Stephen Jackson and point guard Acie Law from Golden State for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. With Felton and D.J. Augustin, the Bobcats have three point guards, leaving Brown mentioning the possibility of the 6-5 Henderson filling in as a small forward or even a power forward in a "small" lineup.

"He'll figure it out," Brown said, "because he's a willing listener. He needs to become a better ball-handler, but he's so explosive, so athletic. I want him to fall in love with the rim, not just with shooting. I don't mean to go out on a limb with a comparison, but he has some Vince Carter qualities athletically.""