It’s Draft Day!

The day is finally here! The NBA draft gets underway at 7:00 pm EST and the New Orleans Hornets will select Kentucky big man Anthony Davis.

After that, the fun begins. The Charlotte Bobcats are a wildcard. Will they trade their pick, potentially to Cleveland so the Cavaliers can select Florida guard Bradley Beal or will they simply stand pat and select Kansas power forward Thomas Robinson? Where does Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who many consider the second best prospect in the draft, land? What about local Winter Park High School product Austin Rivers? Who will surprise many by being selected early (Syracuse guard Dion Waiters is rumored to be selected as a high as fourth by the Cleveland Cavaliers) and who will take an inevitable tumble down the board?

The Magic won’t go on the clock until later in the night – they have the 19th overall pick.

At least, we think the Magic won’t go on the clock until then. The Houston Rockets have been stockpiling picks and after sending center Samuel Dalembert and the 14th overall pick to the Milwaukee Bucks, they now own the 12th, 16th and 18th overall picks. With point guard Kyle Lowry‘s friendly deal and the expiring contract of unhappy guard Kevin Martin, the Rockets are poised to collect one or maybe even two top 10 picks. If they can do that, the Magic might have to pull the trigger on a deal sending Dwight Howard (and a one or two bad contracts) to Houston. Although a draft night trade involving Howard doesn’t seem likely, new general manager Rob Hennigan is going to leave his options open. If the Rockets don’t pull off a Howard deal, they could turn their attention back to Los Angeles Lakers big Pau Gasol.

If it is a rather boring (albeit possibly productive) night, we’ve gone over the options the Magic will have at 19. We looked at the point guards here, wings here and bigs here. Josh Robbins shares his thoughts on the potential selections here while Orlando Pinstriped Post took a look at a host of prospects here. Maybe the Magic will use the draft to simply dump salary?

If you take a look at most of the mock drafts, the names that pop up next to the Magic most are North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall, Kentucky point guard Marquis Teague, St. John’s forward Moe Harkless, Baylor guard/forward Quincy Miller, Kentucky forward Terrence Jones, Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger, Mississippi State forward/center Arnett Moultrie and St. Bonaventure forward/center Andrew Nicholson.

The Magic held several workouts, including two in which they worked out six players. First, they brought in Harkless, Nicholson, William Buford from Ohio State, Cameron Moore from UAB, Darrion Pellum from Hampton and Jeff Taylor from Vanderbilt, then worked out Washington guard Tony Wroten, South Dakota guard Charlie Westbrook, Xavier guard Tu Holloway, Alabama forward JayMychael Green, Kansas State forward JaMar Samuels and West Virginia forward Kevin Jones.

The Magic also hold the 49th overall pick. Draft Express currently has the Magic selecting Marquette guard Darius Johnson-Odom.

And remember, the fun doesn’t stop Thursday night. Point guard Jameer Nelson has to make a decision on his option Friday and power forward Ryan Anderson will become a restricted free agent Sunday.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN Florida’s Magic Insider (http://ESPNFlorida.com) and is the co-host of the ESPNFlorida.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him onTwitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here)