The Hornets decided to take shooting guard Adam Haluska in the 2nd round with the 43rd pick in the NBA Draft.  The 6’5″, 210 pound Haluska played for both Iowa State and Iowa in college.  Haluska played in 129 games in college and he averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  He also is a decent shooter as he’s hit 42.4% from the floor, 36% from the three point range and 83.7% from the free throw line.  Haluska will likely back up Stojakovic at shooting guard as a rookie.

The Hornets will probably move Peja Stojakovic to shooting guard to make room in the starting lineup for their first round pick, small forward Julian Wright.  Wright is a good rebounder and a very active defender so he should fit right in with the Hornets.  Wright has nice size at 6’8″, 225 pounds and he’s a good all-around basketball player.  Wright played in 71 games for Kansas and he averaged 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  Wright shot 55.5% from the floor and only 59.1% from the free throw line which he will need to improve on.  Look for Wright to start from Day #1 for the Hornets.

In the Hornets stay healthy they will make the playoffs in 2007 no matter what they add in the Draft later tonight.  Still, the Hornets have 5 free agents and they would likely have an interest in bringing back any of them at the right price.  Devin Brown, Marc Jackson, Linton Johnson, Desmond Mason and Jannero Pargo all did good jobs for the Hornets last season after injuries ransacked the team.  Look for the Hornets to be active tonight in the Draft as they select #13 and #43 and they will be on the hunt for a shooting guard and a small forward.

Jannero Pargo has opted out of his contract and has become an unrestricted free agent.  He had 1 year and $1.08 million bucks left on his contract with the Hornets.  He hasn’t closed the door on returning to the Hornets but the price will be substantially higher than what he made last season.  He played in all 82 games (7 starts) for the Hornets last season and he averaged 20.9 minutes, 9.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.  He made 40.9% of his shots from the floor, 38.8% from the three point line and 85.2% from the free throw line.  Those numbers were all huge improvements over his career numbers.  In his 5 year career, Pargo has played in 236 games (8 starts) and he averaged 15.4 minutes, 6.4 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  He has shot 39.8% from the floor, 37.1% from three point range and 83.8% from the free throw line.  The Hornets will probably try to re-sign Pargo who played well for them last season as long as the price tag isn’t too high.