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NBA DRAFT

June 28, 2007

Julian Wright

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. So you get to play with Chris Paul; can you talk about playing with a great young point guard like that?
JULIAN WRIGHT: I'm definitely excited. I look forward to playing with Chris Paul. He's a good player, a good person, and you know, I don't personally know him but he has a really good vibe with everyone and makes everyone play better.
I just really look forward to it.

Q. How much do you know about the New Orleans franchise going in; did you meet with the team or anything like that?
JULIAN WRIGHT: I didn't schedule a work-out but my agent has really good relations with the team and that really is a plus with this whole process and I'm really blessed to have an agent that really has my back in this whole thing.

Q. Do you want to talk about your Kansas legacy, about other Kansas players and stuff like that?
JULIAN WRIGHT: I'm just happy firstly to be in this situation and hopefully be a guy that maybe guys can come there in the future, can look up to and hopefully I can set a good example and just be a hard worker and improve and just really flourish and hold it down for the Kansas alums.

Q. What did you think about this whole process, declaring early, the workouts, being in the Green Room for longer than most of the guys in there; what was it like?
JULIAN WRIGHT: Oh, you mean like -- I felt pretty composed. This was a good draft. Anything was possible at this draft, fortunately and unfortunately. I was fortunate enough to be on that side where I was trying to work at Top-10 teams but we knew going into this, there's so many great players, potential great players, so I'm really happy to be picked where I'm at.

Q. Coming from such a good program like Kansas and such a good core team, how tough of a decision was it for you to make this jump to go to the next level?
JULIAN WRIGHT: It was a tough, tough decision. I think it's tough on anyone, even if, you know, a guy like Greg Oden to come here, it's tough when you're at these schools with lots of tradition, it makes it hard and tough. You really have great experiences there.
Like I said, I'm fortunate to be in this situation and going to make the most of it. Definitely I will keep in contact with everybody that has helped me with this process and that I've had their support so I'm grateful for that.

Q. Obviously it's two years out since Hurricane Katrina; are you curious, have you been to New Orleans, or do you see yourself playing a role in the city's further recovery?
JULIAN WRIGHT: I definitely thought about that. The NBA, it's a job and you're playing, but we definitely have a social responsibility to really help the community. So I'm really looking forward to that, as well. I have never had the time to just travel to New Orleans and see how it is now, but I heard it's improving with a lot of good players and good people in the community and hopefully I can be a role model in that respect.

Q. There were three or four teams; Charlotte, Chicago, Sacramento; that maybe you might have gone to and went by; did that start to make you nervous at that point when those teams passed up on you?
JULIAN WRIGHT: No. I appreciate the honesty of teams. Going through this with my agent, we were talking about the workouts and just trying to alleviate a lot of the anxiety, we would ask how high I was on their list or they would give options, certain guys on the list and that makes it obvious. It's a deep draft and I respect that and in these workouts I tried to work as hard as I could and let things fall where it did. Like I said, I'm happy to be where I'm at.

Q. You're going to play with Chris Paul, but more importantly for Coach Scott, he's tough on rookies; have you spoken to him?
JULIAN WRIGHT: I haven't spoken to him yet. I'm happy and fortunate to have really great coaches, my high school coach is a Hall of Famer in Illinois, and soon-to-be Hall of Famer in coach Bill Self.
I just know the experiences with my head coaches in the past, they were tough on me but that really helps me and that helps me to be in this situation now.

End of FastScripts

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