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The following update came from the Hornets last night:

Hornets guard Chris Paul, who has been out the past five weeks due to left knee surgery, was medically cleared to begin running at half speed yesterday.

Hornets forward James Posey missed last night's game against Denver with flu-like symptoms. He did not travel with the team to Phoenix and is out for tomorrow's game. He is questionable for Monday's game against the Clippers.

Hornets center Sean Marks will undergo right shoulder surgery on Tuesday morning and will be out the remainder of the season.

Hornets forward Peja Stojakovic, who has missed the past two games with a lower abdominal strain, will remain out for a minimum of the next 10 days.

As Niall noted below, yesterday Julian Wright vented some of the frustration he must have been feeling all season via Twitter.

He then, unsurprisingly, spent the next 9 hours or so defending the series of tweets as various followers jumped on him.  He ended with this statement:

Ok, I apologize for venting and making anybody uncomfortable. I just worked hard these past two summers so that's what I'll do this summer!

The thing is . . . he's right.  Julian's primary talents are his rebounding, on the ball defense, and ability to finish (not handle) in transition.  For a brief time this season, when he was able to play with fast-break focused teammates like Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, and Songaila he looked very good.   That second unit was something I looked forward to every game.

Unfortunately, with all the injuries and roster turnover, he's once again stuck on a  unit with no one to handle the ball and no fleet-footed wingman to fill the opposite lane on the fast break.   That leaves him trapped in half-court offense, where he is forced to rely on his shaky handle, jumper and baseline cuts that are easily prevented by an alert defender.  Square peg.  Round hole.

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A few posts from Julian Wright on Twitter yesterday:

Off to practice, thinking bout how I'm jealous of all these players that managed to get traded before Thursday... #

Just saying, might need a change of scenery, of course I love New Orleans! Bought a house here. #

Not bout blaming anyone. Just thinkin bout the C. Fryes, S. Browns, and the G. Wallaces, of the league who just needed a change of scenery. #

The trade deadline is tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. Central. Julian is on the books for $2 million this season, $2.86 million next season, and has a $3.9 million qualifying offer for 2011-12.

Reports are flying from Yahoo News that Hornets' superstar guard, Chris Paul, will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday, and will miss one to two months. The injury is reportedly a partial tear of his meniscus.

It's being reported that the injury is not season ending, but is indeed more serious than the Hornets initially thought.

Not much else was known about the injury, which Paul suffered against Golden state, and aggravated during an overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls. He sat out the next game against Memphis.

Darren Collison is expected to be the primary benefactor of Paul's minutes, but with the all the recent salary shedding there is no additional backup point guard. Bobby Brown, the former third string point guard, was recently dealt to reduce salary. Marcus Thornton filled in for a few minutes against Memphis, but he's going to have to play 40 minutes a night as the shooting guard.

Morris Peterson, who has seen only 151 minutes this year, will immediately become the Hornets primary, and only, backup guard.

Julian Wright should see more time as well, but he's proven to be even more ineffective at the 2 than the 3.

It's likely the Hornets will search for help from the D-league, but with only 311,000 dollars to work with before going over the luxury tax, it won't be easy.

Hey everyone. Joe Gerrity here. Niall and Ryan have asked me to come aboard and contribute more regularly, so here I am. Hope you enjoy the stuff. I’ll be doing some recaps and previews too.

Also, I’m in the New Orleans area and will definitely be at the next Hornets watch party, so hopefully I’ll see you all there.

This season, the major storyline for the New Orleans Hornets has revolved around shedding salary. It’s no secret the Hornets are a small market team and have to keep payroll below the luxury tax line, unless they are contending.

A few years back, when the Hornets were thought to be among the favorites out west, Shinn opened up his wallet and brought in James Posey, accepting the reality that his franchise would likely be over the luxury tax line for years to come because of it. That was fine for him, as long as they were contending.

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