Hornets head coach Byron Scott isn't worried about his contract situation heading into the season.

Scott is entering his sixth season with New Orleans. He will make $5.5 million this year in what is the final season of his contract.

"I don't give a damn about the contract situation; that doesn't fuel me, " Scott told the Times-Picayune. "What fuels me is winning. ... I'm still competing. I kind of love this situation. I'm not trying to sound cocky, but I know I'm good at what I do. I'm very confident in what I do as a basketball coach, and I know I'm going to be coaching. I think guys scared of this type of pressure shouldn't be in the business, and I've been in it long enough as a player, so this is nothing new to me. When it's all said and done, I want to be here when David West and Chris Paul decide to retire."

Julian Wright will get a chance to win the starting small forward job in New Orleans over Peja Stojakovic in training camp.

Wright struggled last season, but Hornets owner George Shinn is pushing coach Byron Scott to develop the team's younger players.

"He can play both positions (small forward and shooting guard), but right now I want him to get totally comfortable at small forward," Scott told the Times-Picayune. "That's something we did during summer league. That's the only spot I want him to play, so he can get comfortable, that it becomes second nature."

Scott benched Wright last season for repeated mistakes and said that he regressed following a strong rookie season in 2007-08.

"They are trying to channel me in one position, so I can give the best effort," said Wright. "That's what training camp is for, figuring out what is going to make the team play at the highest level possible. So all I can do is come and show what I've been working on and try to provide the team with it."

Chris Paul isn't worried about replacement referees calling games this season.

"No, no," Paul told Yahoo! Sports. "I don't worry about replacement referees. End of the day, you're reffing the game."

The NBA and its referees union have failed to reach agreement on a new contract and the league announced last week it will begin training replacement officials.

"They probably won't know us as well and we won't know them on a first-name basis like we do the regular referees, but you've got to play the game," Paul added.

Basketball-Reference.com has released their Win Share projections, and Hornets point guard Chris Paul looks like a strong MVP candidate.

The calculations attempt to predict how many individual wins each NBA player will be almost single-handedly responsible for this coming season.

The site predicts that the Hornets will win 46.6 games, with Paul accounting for 14.0 of those victories.

It's the highest total by a player in the projections.

The Hornets will open camp in Lafayette this season, as six or seven new players will attempt to get to know the carryovers.

"With six or seven new faces, I just wanted us to get away," Scott said Wednesday at the announcement that the Hornets will spend six days working at Louisiana-Lafayette's Leon Moncla indoor practice facility. "I didn't want practice to end and everybody go home. I wanted us to be in a hotel close to one another.

"We're going to be at the hotel after practice having lunch together and then dinner; they are basically on their own. But you know when you've got guys in the same hotel, they'll start calling each other to see where they want to go for dinner, and that's just to speed up the camaraderie and the togetherness."

Warriors rookie Stephen Curry worked out with Hornets All-Star Chris Paul this past week.

Curry sought out help from Paul as he enters his first NBA season.

"To come in and learn from an All-Star and Olympic gold-medal winner is pretty special," Curry told the Times-Picayune. "You see how hard he works, and I picked up things and competed with him one-on-one. I just feel like it's a head start for me to start my career off right."

The former Davidson star is expected to play point guard in Golden State.

"I've known Stephen for awhile," Paul said. "He grew up in Charlotte, and I was down in Winston-Salem. We've been working out all summer, and I think he's as prepared for his rookie season as he can be."

The Timberwolves acquired Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second-round draft pick from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Bobby Brown and Darius Songaila.

"Antonio has the ability to play both guard positions and will provide a veteran presence and added flexibility to our backcourt," said David Kahn, Timberwolves president of basketball operations. "This trade also provides increased flexibility for personnel moves beginning next summer."

Daniels has one year left on his contract, worth $6.6 million.

The acquisitions will cut the Hornets' payroll by $1.3 million this season.

The New Orleans Hornets are on the verge of completing a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves to improve their depth, according to NBA front-office sources.

Sources tell Marc Stein that Darius Songaila and Bobby Brown will be traded to the Hornets in exchange for Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second round pick.

The deal is expected to be finalized later on Wednesday.

Peja Stojakovic could come off the bench in New Orleans this season in an effort to extend his career.

He missed 20 games last season because of back spasms. His back has been an issue ever since he underwent season-ending surgery to remove a disc fragment in 2006.

The Hornets sent Mark Cranston, Director of Athlete Performance and Rehabilitation, to Greece to check on the forward's back last month.

"Mark spent a couple of days with him (Stojakovic) and had very good reports," general manager Jeff Bower told the Times-Picayune. "We're pleased with what all our players have been doing at this point."

Stojakovic will earn $14.2 million this season and $15.3 million in 2010-11.

Former NBA point guard Robert Pack has returned to the league as an assistant coach with the Hornets.

"It's definitely something I'm excited about and I'm looking forward to it. It's something I knew I wanted to get into and that I had a feel for," Pack told Wendell Maxey of Beyond The Beat.

Pack added that he will sit down with New Orleans coach Bryon Scott, who he played for in New Jersey, soon to discuss his exact responsibilities.

"I'm pretty sure I'll have a role in working with these guys defensively and spending the extra time discussing what they can expect from the game," he concluded.