"I don't have time to take off," Wright said. "I am a player that needs to be in the gym daily. I just need to continue working on my skills as a spot-up shooter and scoring in the post. I'm trying to be a threat, not the third or fourth option."

After a shaky start in summer play, Wright performed better in the final two games, his best performance coming last Sunday when he scored 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds during the Hornets' 107-105 triple-overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets in the team's summer league finale.

The day before, Wright had 19 points, four rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes in New Orleans' 100-96 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Wright scored more than on last season's trip to Las Vegas, and he also increased his shooting percentage to 47.7 from 32.9 and decreased his turnovers from a 28 a year ago to nine.

Coach Byron Scott said he might consider starting Wright ahead of Peja Stojakovic next season. Stojakovic's lower back has hampered him for two of the past three seasons, and playing less could extend his career.

"I think this could be a breakout year for Julian," Scott said. "You know Julian is going to be a good player because you see him putting in the work every day. I think that's the No. 1 thing."

With the Hornets still inactive during free agency, Collison and Thornton could be playing significant minutes off the bench with Wright.

Thornton averaged a team-best 20.7 points in three summer-league games, leading all rookies in scoring and sixth overall. He shot 44 percent and showed ability to create his shot off the dribble.

"Having the chance to work on different things in summer league is what makes it fun," said Thornton, who was fourth in summer play with 2.3 steals per game. "I worked to be step-back-and-shoot and trying to get my teammates more involved."

Collison averaged 18.5 points, shot 44.9 percent from the field and averaged a team-high 3.8 assists. Scott said he wants Collison to push the tempo more, but was pleased with his progress.

Both rookies sat out Sunday's game because of minor injuries. Collison had a sprained left ankle and Thornton strained his right ankle.

"I think both (Collison and Thornton) efforts were tremendous, their attention to detail was probably as good as it could get," said Hornets assistant Rob Werdann, who was the coach of the summer league team. "We practiced two times a day at the beginning, and they did a good job of absorbing everything."

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John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.