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It is officially draft day for the New Orleans Hornets and the open thread has arrived. After an unusually stressful day of Chris Paul trade speculation fueled by a long distance interview and a statement from current owner George Shinn, Hornets fans everywhere are probably ready for some potential good news.

Television coverage for the event begins on ESPN at 6PM Central time. If the Hornets stand pat and pick 11th, the decision should be announced around 7:20 in the evening.

Ryan told you what to expect, but there's more to talk about. What is your dream scenario? Who do you really not want to see taken? Which player is a steal in the second round?

If this awesome thread wasn't enough to get you excited, Hornets247 is proud to bring you live coverage from the Alario Center on draft night, where Monty Williams, Jeff Bower, and other Hornets personnel will be gathered to make their decision. Coach and GM both are expected to address the media, answer questions and talk about the pick. I'll be right there to keep you posted with live, breaking information starting at 5:00 and continuing all the way through

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This morning the New Orleans Hornets worked out Luke Babbitt of Nevada. Unlike the team's previous workouts, this one was held exclusively for Babbitt and did not include any other prospects. When the media arrived on scene, Luke was dripping in sweat and obviously exhausted. He had already completed shooting drills, cone drills, sprints, and even matched up with new coach Monty Williams a couple of times.

Going into the workout the scouting reports all concurred that defensively he could be a liability. After watching him go through a single cone drill and two sprints to finish up what had obviously been a long workout, a few things came to mind. His lateral agility on the lone cone drill wasn't anything to marvel at, but at the same time wasn't atrocious. His sprints, certainly not on par with the Hornets lightning fast guards, appeared adequate. He won't be the first guy on the break, but running the floor shouldn't be a problem.

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Recently Hornets247 had the privilege of interviewing Marcus Thornton at a local basketball camp where he was showing off some skills to the youngsters. Some outside of New Orleans remember Marcus best for his sick dunk on Gerald Wallace, which wound up being NBA dunk of the Week. Fact is though, that was just a drop in the bucket of awesomeness that he brought with him to the NBA.

If you've been drinking away the summer pain, you may have forgotten about Marcus (unlikely, but some of you do live in New Orleans). If that's the case, allow me to reintroduce him.

A few notes-

• Scored a franchise record 23 points in a single quarter on 2/23/10
• All Rookie Second Team (which Ryan disagrees with)

Let's get to the interview:

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Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with New Orleans Hornets forward Julian Wright at a "Subway Junior Hornets Basketball Event". He was there to meet the young fans and give them a few tips on the game of basketball and life.

For those that don't know about the Junior Hornets, it's a group of around 700 5-12 year old fans who receive a bunch of cool Hornets stuff like a watch, water bottle, shirt, the basketball camp and a free 6" sub (mmm... Subway), as well as the opportunity to see and speak with Julian.

As for Wright, you know him best as our athletic small forward who has shown tons of potential ever since he was drafted with the 13th pick in 2007. It was that same year, at the age of 20, that he boasted a 15.48 PER, good for 24th among all small forwards.

In the summer that followed the team's best season in history, he found himself playing point guard in summer league. The position of backup point guard was at the time a huge concern, and Byron Scott attempted to solve the problem internally in what can only be reflected upon as a poor decision.

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NBA.com's David Aldridge answered a bunch of questions from NBA bloggers this week, and we were able to sneak in two about the Hornets...

Several articles have appeared online this season arguing that the Hornets would be better off trading Chris Paul and starting from scratch, since they can't seem to surround him with a good enough supporting cast to win a championship. What would be your thoughts on such a move?

DA: I completely disagree with it. The hardest position I feel to fill correctly on a basketball team is point guard. It's just really hard to find these quality level point guards that can help you toward a championship. And Chris Paul is one of the two or three best point guards in the league. You are never going to get equal value for him, no matter who you trade for him, unless you trade him for Deron Williams. So you're going to be a lesser team without him no matter what you get. To me, that wouldn't make any sense at all. A team like New Orleans, which is going to have limits on what you can spend, when you have a great player it's one less great player you have to go and try to get. That is something that is their job and Jeff Bower's job as GM is to surround him with with good enough players just like R.C. Buford did with Tim Duncan in San Antonio. They have Tim Duncan and they surround him over the years with very good to excellent players who are good enough to help them win championships. That's what Jeff Bower's job is in New Orleans.

What's your take on the Hornets' rookies (Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton and Jeff Bower) this season? Do you see them having successful NBA careers in their respective roles?

DA: Well, Collison's been great, he's been terrific. A lot of people wondered about him coming in and he's been great. We'll see how he does after a month, but right now he's been excellent for them and has done a really good job of getting guys into their offense and distributing the ball, and scoring when he has to. So he's doing a good job. Thornton's played I think pretty well in spots and so what they've done this offseason I think is good for that team. They finally addressed their bench situation and they added some depth and did a good job there, but I think for them to have a chance to get to the playoffs and be good in the playoffs you need guys like James Posey to play like he played in Boston. And he's played better of late and they need him to do that if they have any chance.

Read David's responses to questions from other NBA bloggers after the jump, including some words on Chicago's Tyrus Thomas, who the Hornets are reported to be interested in...

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