You can bet your ass they certainly hope so.

New Orleans Hornets president Hugh Weber both told CBSSports.com that they plan to sit down face-to-face with Chris Paul to sell him on the team’s new direction for the coming 2010 NBA basketball season. Paul can’t go public with his trade request — if he did, he’d be subject to a fine under NBA rules — but those with knowledge of his plans believe his desire to pair up with another superstar (or two) has gained too much momentum to stop.

In late June, Chris Paul, 25, spent several days in Akron, Ohio, with James, who was busy orchestrating his own exit strategy from Cleveland. The two friends and superstars picked each other’s brains, with each persuading the other to make significant changes in their branding strategies.

For Paul, it was a big step to persuade James to join the social networking phenomenon that is Twitter. For James’ part, he finally persuaded Paul to join his Cleveland-based marketing company, LRMR.

Paul’s decision to sign with LRMR, headed by James’ close friend and advisor, Maverick Carter, was only the first step in his exit plan from the New Orleans Hornets. Paul officially severed his representation agreement with Octagon earlier this month and will soon officially join the influential stable of clients represented by Creative Artists Agency.

With a stranglehold on the top free-agent talent…

Add one more marquee name to the most anticipated free-agent class in NBA history.

All-Star forward Paul Pierce has notified the Boston Celtics that he will opt out of the final year of his contract, which will make Pierce an unrestricted free agent for the first time. Pierce’s agent has confirmed Pierce will exercise his early termination option in his contract, leaving over $21 million on the table next season while in pursuit of a long-term contract.

Paul Pierce joins Ray Allen as an unrestricted free agent and will attract his fair share of suitors. The most likely scenario results in Pierce returning to Boston, but either way, this decision will have ramifications for the Boston Celtics and the league.

Even if Pierce signs a max contract, the most he can earn in 2010-11 is $20.8 million — but he’s obviously willing to take a pay cut for one season in exchange for long-term security. And by signing this year, Pierce avoids the uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement, which is still being negotiated and will take effect next summer. The new CBA will likely include a reduced salary cap, with a slight chance of a hard cap. By opting out, Pierce enables himself to take advantage of the higher salary structure.

Even as Pierce’s athleticism begins to wane with age, he’s still a top-notch player for a Finals-contending team. That, combined with the sheer number of teams with available cap space, will result in Pierce getting offers. The Celtics’ plan consistently has been to retain Pierce and Allen in order to make one more run with this core. But try to conceptualize a Celtics team with Pierce and Allen playing elsewhere. It’s a possibility, no matter how remote.

Pierce just played a pivotal role in helping Boston to…

Cleveland has secured the top spot in the East for quite some time. As for the rest, here they are.

The matchups in the East for the 2010 NBA playoffs are finally… um… finalized and while the Cleveland Cavaliers have secured the top playoff spot in the conference a few weeks ago, the remaining few seeds were not determined until the final few days of the season.

As it turned out, the no.1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers will be taking on the no.8 seed Chicago Bulls, who secured the last playoff spot in the East after beating the playoff-pound Charlotte Bobcats, hence denying the Toronto Raptors of postseason play for the second straight year.

Kudos to coach Vinny Del Negro and the rest of the Chicago Bulls for overcoming a late-season injury to Joakim Noah and the publicized rift between coach Del Negro and team manager John Paxson. Congratulations guys, you’re in the playoffs.

Your reward? LeBron James. (I don’t know if the Bulls would still be happy about that in a few days…)

The Orlando Magic will be this year’s no.2 seed as they look to make a return to the NBA Finals when they take on no.7 seed, Charlotte Bobcats. Thanks to some key additions to the Magic roster, more specifically the addition of Vince Carter, the Magic have become…

Ah yes, the Mavericks.

In case you haven’t noticed it yet, the Dallas Mavericks have crept up on us all this 2010 NBA basketball season with almost everyone going ga-ga over teams like the Cavaliers, the Lakers and this ridiculous feud between Shaq and Dwight Howard.

While the rest of the league are too preoccupied with anything that has something to do with LeBron, Kobe and what not, the Dallas Mavericks have slowly but surely taken over the league, winning eight games straight to post the second best record in the West and become the hottest team in the NBA at this point of the season.

Led by Dirk Nowitzki, averaging 25.2 points a game, the Mavericks improved to 40-21, good for the second seed in the Western Conference if the 2010 NBA playoffs started today. On Wednesday, they have the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that lost nine of its last ten games.

It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why you should stay the hell away from the Minnesota Timberwolves on this one.

How did the Mavericks come up with this league-best eight-game winning streak at this point of the year? Simple. They’re giving Nowitzki more touches and he’s cashing in on those opportunities too.

Nowitzki has been scoring over 30 points for three games straight…

Shaq’s out so Dwight should be the choice, for now.

After both Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal got into some sort of a squabble this 2010 NBA basketball season about who is the real Superman in this league, we figured to compare both guys since both we’re drafted by the Orlando Magic to the NBA as the no.1 overall draft pick.

From the time when Dwight Howard was drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic, the comparisons to Shaquille O’Neal began as O’Neal was also selected 1st overall by the Magic. Howard has long been considered the next great ‘big man’ to enter the NBA, and many feel that given the changes in style of play in the league over the last few years, he may be one of the last of his kind.

Howard uses more of a combination of speed and strength to dominate the offensive paint, compared to Shaquille O’Neal who had better post moves that gave him the illusion of being quick. Shaq has brute force, plus some good footwork. One can assume that’s one of the secrets that let O’Neal to stay in the league this long. Even with declining athleticism, he still has the weight and strength behind him, and still has the footwork

The comparisons between Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal are moving beyond their playing style too.

Both Howard and Shaq led the league in rebounds. Howard leads the league in dunks for the Orlando Magic this year while O’Neal did the same thing during the 94-95 season. Both players are entertainers and comedians off the court but have shown they mean business on the court. Howard and Shaq also both love to dance, for crying out loud.

Shaq has always been referred to as ”Superman,” but after Howard donned the cape in a slam dunk contest two years ago, that ”Superman” moniker started to tag Howard.

And in case you didn’t know, Howard has recently been…

Apparently, the only dude who still thinks so is none other than Shaquille O’Neal himself.

With the 2010 NBA basketball season closing in on its final stretch for the postseason, the last thing you want is a seven-foot, 300-pound monster like Shaquille O’Neal after you. Well, Dwight Howard got Shaq’s attention, all thanks to this stupid little nickname that lets the rest of the league call you Superman.

You read it, Shaquille O’Neal hates the fact that the rest of the league has been calling Dwight Howard ”Superman.” Shaq feels Howard stole the moniker from him and he still feels he should be the only guy who can carry the name even at this point of his career.

Shaq made his displeasure towards Howard and his new nickname public after his Cleveland Cavaliers beat Howard’s Orlando Magic just before the All-Star break. Shaq even remarked, ”Superman my ass,” after the game, clearly trying to instigate something with Orlando’s big man.

Shaq hates Howard so much that the Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t lost a game to the Orlando Magic this season. There’s something about playing against Howard that brings the best out of Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq claims he finds it offensive every time people compare him to Howard. After beating Orlando again a few days ago, Shaq remarked, ”You tell me who the real Superman is.”

As for Dwight Howard, he could care less about the ”Superman” nickname…

It’s that time of the year when the NFL concludes its season for the NBA to pick up the slack.

And just like every other year in sports, the NBA will pick up the slack with a bang, kicking off the second half of the season with the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. Yes, it’s the East All-Stars going up against the West All-Stars once again as fans voted in who they feel are the five best players in each conference as All-Star starters.

Leading the East All-Stars this year is leading vote-getter LeBron James. The reigning league MVP got 2,549,693 votes this season, becoming the first player in balloting history to draw at least 2.5 million votes on three separate occasions.

James is making his sixth All-Star appearance and will start for the Eastern Conference for the sixth time in his career. Joining James in the East are Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson , the 2001 and 2005 All-Star Game MVP.

Among active players, Garnett’s 13th All-Star selection ranks second to Shaquille O’Neal who has 15. Dwight Howard of…

Why are we asking? Remember James’ excitement over his intentions to be in the Slam Dunk contest last season? Well, all that died down a bit this year.

Yes, LeBron James has been having second thoughts about participating in the Slam Dunk contest for the coming All-Star break this 2010 NBA basketball season. You see, after watching Dwight Howard literally steal the show before Nate Robinson won it last year, he was going ga-ga over the fact that he might actually be in the middle of it all in Dallas this year.

Unfortunately for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise player, James is no longer as enthusiastic as he was last year. Considered as one of the most prolific dunkers in the league today, James said that he is now only 50 – 50 to join the contest.

”I don’t know if you can get it back to the 80s and like in ‘98 when Vince (Carter) was in it. It was more about the dunks and less about what was going on around the dunks. We’ll see what happens,” LeBron James said.

James also mentioned the exhibition’s props and circus-like antics are part of the reason for his hesitance of participating in the 2010 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest. But unless James wants to further damage his public relations capital before the biggest summer of his financial life, he needs to man up and throw it down.

You see, James has had a series of PR misfires over the last…

These fans could care less who they get to the NBA’s midseason extravaganza.

How come? Well, Tracy McGrady COULD START for the Western Conference All-Stars in Dallas. Yep, T-Mac. Boy, is he playing awesome this 2009 NBA basketball season eh?

In what is slowly turning out to be a complete and utter joke, some NBA fans are on the verge of letting a dude who haven’t played a single game this season become an All-Star in Dallas, where the 2010 NBA All-Star Game will be played.

Ain’t that funny? Tracy McGrady could join Kobe Bryant in the Western Conference backcourt. That is a slap in the face to every other guard in the Western Conference. They don’t even have to be better than McGrady this season since the guy HASN’T EVEN SUITED UP FOR A SINGLE FREAKING GAME THIS YEAR.

If you ask me, there’s this one guy who should get the vote to be a starter in the Western Conference All-Star roster, Brandon Roy. That dude, just like last season, is ballin’ this year and even without Greg Oden for the second straight year, Roy is doing just enough to keep the ship afloat.

Another dude who should get the start alongside Kobe Bryant is Chauncey Billups.

Chauncey Billups is the prototypical point guard and it is because of his leadership that the Denver Nuggets have become one of the elite teams in the West, not to mention help Carmelo Anthony become one of the prime candidates to win league MVP this season.

For a guy like him to get the boot in favor of a dude who is…

Is this the year that LeBron James finally becomes a champion?

That’s what we’ll soon find out as the 2009 NBA basketball season kicks off. And in case you’re not paying attention, the NBA season is kicking off, and it’s kicking off in style, pitting the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers on day numero uno.

That’s right, these two teams in the East will renew their storied rivalry in the season opener and since the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers are two of those teams that has made huge moves during the offseason, they have become two of the hottest commodities in the league right now and watching them play against each other to kick off the season is definitely must-see TV.

Can Rasheed Wallace help bring the Boston Celtics back in the NBA Finals? Is Shaquille O’Neal the guy who helps LeBron James give the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship in franchise history? Whichever team wins this Tuesday will give us an idea.

For Boston, Kevin Garnett is back. After some knee problems last season, KG is definitely looking like the Big Ticket…