The Hornets took steps Wednesday to bolster their depth at shooting guard and small forward, obtaining Xavier Henry from the Memphis Grizzlies for a 2013 second-round draft choice.

New Orleans was part of a three-team trade in which the 76ers sent forward Marreese Speights to the Grizzlies.

Henry, 20, was a lottery pick (12th overall) by Memphis in the 2010 draft, but his development has been hindered by injuries. He is recovering from a second-degree right ankle sprain, including some ligament tearing, which happened at the outset of the Grizzlies’ training camp.

“I think I’ll definitely be out there in the next two weeks,” said Henry, who played at Kansas and worked out for the Hornets at the Alario Center in a predraft audition. “I have a good estimation of about 10 days maybe, but I’d say in the next two weeks I’ll be out there playing.”

Hornets Coach Monty Williams, who has expressed concerns over his team’s shooting guard performances in the absence of starter Eric Gordon the past four games, says he can see Henry sliding between two positions. Gordon returned to the starting lineup in Wedneday night’s 101-93 loss to Philadelphia.

“Xavier is a guy who, when he’s healthy, is going to play for us because he can do a number of things on the floor,” Williams said. “I told him my biggest issue with guys is defending and competing, playing hard. Offensively, he has some things you can’t really teach. He has a good feel for the game. He can shoot the ball, not to range yet, but 18 or 19 feet.

“He might be more of a three (small forward) than he is a two (shooting guard). He has got a big body (6 feet 6, 220 pounds). He can do both. I’d probably call him a wing. A guy like Eric is just a two, but Xavier might be a wing, a guy who can play both. I don’t see him ever being a guy who handles the ball and initiates offense like Eric. I’d say he’s a solid wing.”

No matter the description, Henry, who missed 33 games because of injury last season, says he’s ready.

“This seems like a great team, a lot of defense, a lot of team work, and offensively, it just lets you play,” he said. “I think I’ll fit in pretty well with the guys. I always believed myself I could play either two or three. If I just come in and work hard, work hard on defense and do everything right, I’ll have an opportunity to play.”

The Hornets rank second to last in the NBA in 3-point shooting, at 17.9 percent. Williams said aside from the obvious, there are other issues that could be eliminated by Gordon’s return.

“I still think the guys that have been playing have to make shots,” Williams said. “If you look at our film, guys are getting open looks. What’s hurting us is turnovers in timely situations. In the last two minutes of the (Utah) game, we had two turnovers out of three possessions. You can’t get shots if you’re giving it to the other team. We are missing shots.

“But I don’t want to put all that pressure on Eric. He’s got to play his normal game. (Point guard Jarrett) Jack has got to continue to produce. We may be one of the only teams in the league that may count on our point guard to score double figures every night. But it’ll help our team.”

GORDON’S BACK: Saying his bruised right knee is still not at 100 percent, Gordon nonetheless returned to the starting lineup against the Sixers and scored a team-high 22 points, although he was just 1-of-6 from 3-point range.

“It’s good to come back and finally get back with the team,” he said. “We’re still playing hard and are capable of beating those teams we lost to.”

ALL-STAR MENTIONS: While it’s unlikely, given the lack of superstar faces on the roster, that the Hornets will garner any All-Star Game support as fans vote in the starters. Nonetheless, four players appear on this year’s ballot revealed Wednesday.

Gordon, centers Emeka Okafor and Chris Kaman and power forward Carl Landry are all on the Western Conference portion of the ballot.

The game will be played on Feb. 26 in Orlando.

Kaman is the only member of that group to have been selected on an All-Star team. He was a member of the Western Conference squad in 2010 as a member of the Clippers.

Since the 2007-08 season, the Hornets have had at least one All-Star representative each year, either Chris Paul or David West, both of whom are playing for different teams now.

That’s all for today.

Desperate to end a three-game losing streak, the New Orleans Hornets got needed help Wednesday night with the return of shooting guard Eric Gordon, who had missed the previous four games with a bruised right knee. But even with Gordon scoring a team-high 22 points, it wasn’t enough for the Hornets to prevent a 101-93 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in front of 12,387 at the New Orleans Arena.

The Hornets (2-4) were ineffective again in the fourth quarter as their losing streak reached four games.

This time they blew a six-point lead after turning the ball over six times and allowing 60 percent shooting (12 of 20) in the final period by the 76ers. The Hornets, who have not won since a Dec. 28 game against the Boston Celtics, were outscored 34-20 in the quarter.

In every game during the streak, they have been outscored in the fourth quarter, including 24-16 in Monday night’s 94-90 loss to the Utah Jazz.

“We have to look at film before I make a rash decision,’’ Hornets coach Monty Williams said. “I know there are some things I can do better to help our guys.’’

It was Gordon’s first game back since he made the winning shot with 4.2 seconds remaining in New Orleans’ season-opening 85-84 victory against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 26.

Unlike his game in Phoenix, Gordon missed six of seven shots in the fourth quarter Wednesday night. He finished 8-of-22 and went 1-of-6 from 3-point range.

“We had too many lapses on defense where they hit some tough shots and we weren’t scoring offensively,’’ Gordon said. “We hurt ourselves by taking too many jump shots and not attacking the rim.’’

Gordon opened the game by hitting his first four shots, including a 3-pointer. His 11-point first quarter helped the Hornets take an early 13-point lead that eventually went to 14 before the first half ended with the Hornets leading 47-40.

Behind Gordon’s 20 points, the Hornets led 73-67 after three quarters, but they could not hold their momentum.

“I told our guys when you look back at a game like this, average teams lose, and teams that want to be good they find a way to win,’’ Philadelphia coach Doug Collins said.

Forward Thaddeus Young’s dunk spurred a 6-0 run that enabled the 76ers to surge ahead 89-83 with 4:18 remaining. Hornets guard Jarrett Jack made two free throws and a close-range shot to cut the deficit to 89-87.

However, point guard Jrue Holiday answered by hitting his third 3-pointer in the quarter that allowed 76ers to extend their lead to 98-89 with 46.7 seconds remaining. Besides Holiday scoring 14 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth, Philadelphia had five steals in the quarter.

“Holiday made some big plays for them down the stretch, but we should have never been in that position,’’ said Hornets backup center Chris Kaman, who scored 10 points and had eight rebounds.

John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3407.

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That’s all for today.

WESTWEGO, Louisiana — The writing was on the wall, or maybe off of it, when the New Orleans Hornets removed an expansive image of All-Star guard Chris Paul from the outside of the New Orleans Arena well before training camp had begun.

Now general manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams have a better picture of some of the new faces that might grace that wall one day, and they can move on with their plans for the Hornets without the drag that a disgruntled superstar can cause.

“Now is the next step,” Demps said Thursday, a day after Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. “I don’t know if it’s relief. We’re glad to get that process over. And we’ve got some other things we need to do to get our roster ready.”

The trade brought the Hornets a prolific young shooting guard in Eric Gordon, a 7-foot former All-Star center in Chris Kaman and a second-year forward with potential in Al-Farouq Aminu. The Hornets also got a first-round draft choice that the Clippers had previously acquired from Minnesota.

With that deal done, progress quickly ensued on the free-agent front with the re-acquisition of power forward Carl Landry, who averaged 11.8 points with the Hornets last season. He came in as a backup to David West and moved into a starting role after West was injured.

“He understands the system. He really thrived later in the season after the injury to David West,” Demps said of Landry, who agreed to a one-year, $8.8 million deal. “He had some big-time moments for us in the playoffs last year. We want to grow on that. … He fits our system and we’re excited about the agreement.”

Williams expressed mix feelings about Paul’s departure.

The Hornets made it clear they would have preferred to build around Paul, had the star guard been inclined to sign an extension. But when Paul would not commit to that, Demps and Williams knew they needed to start seeing Paul as a means to trade for more of the players they needed to get closer to the vision they have of a hustling, scrappy, defense-first team.

“When you can bring closure to a situation and move on, you feel good about that,” Williams said. “At the same time, you don’t lose a player like Chris Paul and say, ‘Let’s move on.’ He certainly was a gift for me (last season) as a first-year coach to have somebody like that at my side.”

Williams said he also will miss forward David West, who opted for a free-agent deal with Indiana instead of coming back. Williams wished both of them would have remained.

“I inherited what most coaches would want to inherit,” Williams said, referring to Paul and West. “Yet, it takes a while to put your program in place, so we’re looking at starting over again, which is not something I had planned on or was looking forward to. But it’s what I have to do, so Dell is going to bring the pieces that he feels like fit our system and I have to trust him do that.”

Demps noted that Kaman, who is in the last year of his contract, will be “out to prove he can still play.”

Demps and Williams say they envision Kaman and center Emeka Okafor playing together at times, with Okafor, who has guarded the perimeter at times in the past, moving to power forward.

Williams said he looks forward to having a scorer like Gordon, who averaged 22 points last season.

“I’m always one to get guys on our team that I fear coaching against, and he’s one of those guys,” Williams said. “When he shoots it from range or is attacking the basket, you’re always on edge because you know you’re in trouble.”

Demps said he has spoken all three of the former Clippers who are on their way to the Big Easy, and all of them seemed happy about it.

“All three of them were excited. … They were ready to get here,” Demps said. “I didn’t have to sell anything. I was thinking that could be a possibility, but that was not the case.”

That’s all for today.

WESTWEGO, Louisiana — The New Orleans Hornets have wrapped up an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent Carl Landry, who is expected to step back into the starting power forward spot he had late last season and during New Orleans’ first-round playoff series.

Landry’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said the deal is worth about $8.8 million.

Hornets general manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams “did an unbelievable job communicating to him how bad they want him back, and what they were trying to build,” Bartelstein said. “Carl really enjoyed playing for Monty.”

The deal on Thursday came less than 24 hours after the Hornets traded All-Star guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers for shooting guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman and forward Al-Farouq Aminu.

Aminu is a second-year player who is likely to back up the 6-foot-9 Landry, who averaged 11.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 23 games with the Hornets. Landry was acquired in a trade with Sacramento last season and initially backed up David West, but moved into a starting role when West injured his left knee.

West, who was a free agent after last season, decided last weekend to sign with Indiana, opening the way for Landry to return as the likely starter.

“He understands the system. He really thrived later in the season after the injury to David West,” Demps said. “He had some big-time moments for us in the playoffs last year. We want to grow on that. … He fits our system and we’re excited about the agreement.”

Bartelstein said his client agreed to only a one-year deal because of Hornets “uncertain ownership situation.” The team is currently owned by the NBA, but is hoping to have local ownership by mid-January or February, team officials have said.

Still, Landry was willing to give the Hornets at least one more season and remain open to signing an extension if the ownership situation becomes more stable, Bartelstein said.

“He’s going to have a great year and we’ll obviously revisit things in a few months from now,” Bartelstein said.

There is the quick update of the day.

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The New Orleans Hornets, along with Ochsner and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, will launch the second season of the Bee-Fit program, an initiative to teach physical fitness, prevent childhood obesity and educate students on the importance of healthy lifestyle habits.

Hornets Coach Monty Williams will kick off the program Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Terrytown Elementary as he addresses the students on the importance of physical fitness.

The program has been expanded to include all 56 elementary schools in Jefferson Parish, reaching more than 31,000 students in kindergarten through 8th grade.

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