WESTWEGO – Minutes before Thursday’s NBA Draft, New Orleans’ “War Room” was basically silent, save for a few support staff members sitting around a television set watching a preview show.

There was barely a need for much more excitement – the Hornets already knew what their destiny was going to be, having all but announced Wednesday a trade of their 27th pick to Portland for cash considerations.

The Trail Blazers took the University of Kansas’ Darrell Arthur with the pick, and, according to league rules, could owe the Hornets as much as $3 million when all is said and done.

Photo by Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Hornets head coach Byron Scott talks following the announcement of the trade between New Orleans and Portland in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Officials would not disclose the terms of the deal, however, citing team policy.

It took until 10:30 p.m. - nearly an hour and a half after the trade proposal was announced - for the league to approve the trade, making way for Arthur to go to Portland and cash to flow to New Orleans.

The move opens the Hornets up for a chance to find improvement on its second-round playoff run almost immediately by checking into the free agency market instead of having to develop a rookie.

“All the guys we worked out, this is a team of now. We’re not anymore a team of the future. We’re not looking two or three years down the line. When we looked at the 27th pick and all the guys we brought in, we tried to look at those guys objectively and think if any of those guys could help us next year, immediately.

“It was our opinion there really wasn’t anybody there that could help us. If we could trade the pick, sell the pick, whatever the case may be, the bigger picture is trying to get a veteran guy who can come in here and help us right away.

The quickest way it now appears is free agency, where several players could be available who fit the mold head coach Byron Scott and Bower are looking for.

“In moving forward, the biggest thing we were trying to do was have ourselves positioned to take advantage of the free agent market to allow ourselves to investigate that very aggressively,” General Manager Jeff Bower said. “And to keep as much roster-space flexibility as we could heading into the summer and fall for training camp.

“Our objective was to put ourselves in position to help this team the quickest way possible. We felt this trade allowed us some avenues to pursue to accomplish those goals.”

The trade was more a result of the Hornets not being overwhelmed by any of the more than 40 players they brought in for pre-draft workouts and less about having already identified a specific player who will be available on July 1 when free agency begins.

Bower and Scott do have an idea who they’re looking at.

“Jeff and I have talked about a list of guys we like,” Scott said. “We’ve put them in an order that we’d like to pursue. They’re guys we feel can help us right away.”

Mock drafts had New Orleans taking Kansas’ Mario Chalmers or Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts.

When the dust settled after Tuesday’s final workout, which Douglas-Roberts was a part of, Bower and Scott knew the route they were about to take.

“Following the completion of all of our workouts, we went back and evaluated and looked at who we had in and other prospects we didn’t have in and came to the decision we were going to trade the pick,” Bower said.

The Hornets tried to get back into the draft in the second round, but all attempts were unsuccessful, Bower said.

“There wasn’t a Chris Paul in this draft at 27, obviously,” Scott said.

Nevertheless, New Orleans shouldn’t have a problem finding players wanting to head south to the Louisiana coast.

The franchise finished with a club-record 56 wins and won its first-ever Southwest Division championship. The Hornets return All-Star point guard Chris Paul, center Tyson Chandler and All-Star forward David West.

And New Orleans Arena was sold out for the better half of the months following the All-Star break.

In other words, the Hornets are a hot product right now.

“We feel that we have a situation here that’s ideal for a young man to come into a roll that is a very important one for us,” Bower said. “We think obviously, coming on the heels of this past season and building on the success of the team, that players want to come here.

“And players want to be a part of this team and atmosphere and environment that was created this past season.”