NBA Chat With Susan Bible 6/2/12

Please join Susan Bible for her NBA Chat each Saturday at 11:00 am EST. Susan is a Newlines Editor and a member of the fantasy team at HOOPSWORLD. She covers the Oklahoma City Thunder and the NBA at large. Drop in your questions now.

  1. Franz Kafka

    Susan, watching these playoffs I am convinced that you cannot win with Durant as your go-to guy. He has had about 2 good games in the postseason with Harden and Westbrook impacting the game more on both ends. I think Thunder need to trade Durant away for a more traditional SF and build around Westbrook and Harden. What do you think?

    • Susan Bible

      I think someone needs to take your temperature immediately. I’ll assume you just wanted to send a laugh my way this morning.

  2. AJ

    Minor grammatical thing that bugs me… When we are talking about the Thunder (or Heat or Jazz) we are typically talking about more than one person right? Similar to the plural of “deer” being “deer.” So, for example, shouldn’t it be “The Thunder are good” rather than “The Thunder is good?”

  3. Alex in Burbank

    Good morning Susan. Now that the Thunder won game 3 convincingly and for the sake of argument let’s say they win game 4 the same way. Do the Thunder have a shot at the Finals or do you still believe they lose in 6?

    • Susan Bible

      I’m giving them more of a shot than I did just two days ago. I knew they were capable – I’ve seen them turn it up when they need to – but, after Games 1 & 2, I truly thought the Spurs were just too much for them. So if they capture Game 4, we’ve got a best-of-3 with the Spurs still having home-court. I think it’s going to seven games now. Can they win? Yes. Will they win? I want to say yes.

  4. Brendan

    Hey Susan, love the chats!
    If you were a team in need of a center would you rather gamble on Drummond living up to his potential or Oden being able to play a good chunk of minutes and stay healthy? I just wonder because people have been kind of skeptical about Drummond in terms of risk vs reward.

    • Susan Bible

      Thanks! Hand’s down, Drummond…in your scenario. I wouldn’t gamble on Oden in any circumstances in the foreseeable future.

  5. Niko

    Say if Rose comes back in March with the rookie whoever the bulls chose is playing well with the bulls locked up
    In the sixth spot, can they win a title?

    • Susan Bible

      Reports in May have Rose out 8-12 months, maybe shorter and maybe longer. In this case, I think he should plan to sit out the whole year – even if we hear the “recovery is ahead of schedule” thing He’s so young with so many years ahead of him – why gamble and rush it? Knowing him, he’ll want to push as hard as he can when he returns…to a team he will not have played with in months. Recipe for disaster I’d say.

  6. LSO

    Watching the frenetic finals should probably answer my question – but – I wonder if some teams, after they’ve won the Finals, i. e., Lakers, Spurs, etc., lose their absolute drive to win. I mean I wonder if they assume the attitude of “been there, done that”…? It doesn’t appear that they do, but….how many rings can a player really wear?

    • Susan Bible

      One thing holds true for those who play professional ball. They want to win…and keep winning. I don’t think they ever lose their drive to win or desire to get as many rings as possible.

  7. Nana

    When does the “player-shuffle” officially begin. June 30? And what big changes do you anticipate? What effect will this have on our Thunder? Lose any? Gain any?

    • Susan Bible

      The time is quickly approaching when teams can start tinkering with their teams in earnest. The NBA Draft is June 28th, and teams can officially sign free agents beginning July 11th (they can start negotiating on July 1st). The biggest names in free agency include such names as Deron Williams (player option) and Steve Nash (unrestricted FA). Check out this comprehensive 2012 NBA Free Agents list put together by HOOPSWORLD: http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-free-agents That’s a LOT of possible player movement…not to mention others that feature prominently in trade rumors like Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol.

      As for the Thunder, I don’t see anything huge happening this year. All but three players have contracts extending through the 2012-13 season: Nazr Mohammed, Derek Fisher and Royal Ivey. They will attempt another run with the core and perhaps add a couple here and there.

  8. Steve

    Do you think the Thunder should have given Lil Wayne a court side ticket?

    • Susan Bible

      Absolutely not. For those of you that haven’t heard…apparently Lil Wayne had his people call the Thunder’s people about getting “front row seats” to Game 3 in Oklahoma City. He tweeted this at 6:05 pm on 5/31, the night of the game: “Was going to go to the Thunder game tonight but was denied by the team to be in their arena. Wow. Smh. Go Spurs!”

      Denied?

      You mean you were surprised no tickets were available to perhaps the biggest game of the franchise’s history?

      Soon after, the Thunder’s spokeman released this statement:
      “We are completely sold out, had nothing available at all. We would love to have him at our game, but he needs a ticket.”

      What would he have them do…confiscate a previously-paid-for ticket to give him? Please. Get over yourself.

  9. Deven

    Good Morning Susan. Who’s your pick to win the SAS-OKC series and in how many games? Who do you like more?

    • Susan Bible

      Before the series began, I picked Spurs in six…unless the first two games were split. As we know they weren’t. Then OKC dominated Game 3, but I don’t think that’s what we’ll see tonight. So now I think it’s Spurs in seven. I want to be wrong. I want to say Thunder, but can they really win three of the next four? It’s possible, of course.

  10. Deven

    Do you think Derek Fisher’s leadership and clutch play will be a factor in order for OKC to win the series?

    • Susan Bible

      I’m telling you, Fisher has been a nice addition for this team. Pay attention to the bench during the game, Fisher has always got someone’s ear. And this group listens to him. On court, he’s been a factor at times for sure…but I wouldn’t say he’s a factor in order for OKC to win the series. He really helps a lot though.

  11. Alec Martin of Manila

    Any chance the C’s can land K. Hinrich &/or M. Camby next season?

    • Susan Bible

      Both Hinrich and Camby are unrestricted free agents, so they can land them. Plus they’re going to have nice cap space. So the question becomes…will they? The Celtics are going to have a lot of options, I mean a lot, but I’m not feeling Hinrich and Camby.

  12. Matthi

    What has orlando to offer sacramanto for evans? Would a sign and trade anderson with the 19. pick be enought?

    • Susan Bible

      I just can’t see the Kings letting go of Evans. If I’m wrong, I think that would be enough.

  13. devonte

    back in denver carmelo had one of the best combo guards in allen iverson sure they lost in the first round but they won about 45 games in the west so imagine if they where in the east that would be like 55 wins so is it possible that the missing piece on the knicks squad is a point guard or shooting guard that can put up big numbers consistently?

    • Susan Bible

      The problem is the amount of money owed to Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler next year – around $53 million. I think they keep all of them. While they will surely snag Lin, maybe Novak, too (hopefully without having to use their MLE), they still need to shore up the point guard position. A veteran in, say, Steve Nash, is ideal if they get to retain the MLE. I think J.R. Smith comes back too.

  14. calvinzero

    Frankly, OKC had some difficulties against the Spurs in the WCF series. I don’t know if they will go to the Finals. Very obviously, Spurs is the strongest team in the league right now.

    • Susan Bible

      I can’t disagree with that. Tonight will tell us everything: Can the Spurs make adjustments to combat OKC’s Game 3 adjustments? Can the Thunder maintain the focus and most of all, the defensive effort, they displayed in Game 3?

  15. Geoff

    Harrison barnes to kings…. Thoughts?

    • Susan Bible

      The post-lottery HOOPSWORLD mock draft shows Barnes going to the Kings with their fifth pick, and you’ll see that in many other mock drafts as well. They really have had great difficulty in finding the right player at the small forward spot (think Omri Casspi, John Salmons and Donte Green). I think Barnes is a pretty good bet.

  16. Tyler

    If Eric Gordon demands a max contract do the Hornets give it to him? What do you think about a S&T with Portland. Matthews, 6th, 11th for Gordon. I am not saying he is worth a max, but a team wanting to take the next step might offer it. Pacers and Blazers could really use him.

    • Susan Bible

      After the draft lottery, my first thought went to Gordon. Surely his desire to test the free agent market was impacted by the potential of Davis coming, I thought. However, he said Friday that he still intends to listen to offers. As talented as he is, I don’t see him as a max-guy for the Hornets with his injury history and the fact they haven’t been able to really evaluate him. I think he has his eye on the Pacers.

  17. Tyler

    Spurs showed that they were finally human. Can the Thunder beat them? I think it will come down to home court advantage and its hard to see the Thunder beating the Spurs in game 7. Thoughts?

    • Susan Bible

      As we all know, home-court is huge. Such a shame OKC blew it in the last couple weeks of the regular season as they were atop of the WC for a very long time. In any case, I can now see a Game 7…in San Antonio, of course. That’s going to be extremely hard to do. We know they are beatable, but I have major reservations. Tonight is key to see how the Spurs combat what they saw in Game 3.

  18. jack

    I don’t know what the angst is all about. It’s clear that OKC has found the solution to neutralizing the Spurs. I don’t know what changes Pop can come up with to beat the Thunder in a 7 game series.

    • Susan Bible

      They found the answer in Game 3. Don’t you think Pop will make changes of his own? The angst really has to do with home-court…if OKC had it, I’m all over saying OKC wins. Still I had to love what Pop said when asked how he was going to adjust to Sefolosha being all over Parker: “I guess I could ask Scotty not to play him.” Classic. I hope I’m not sounding like Debbie Downer, I just don’t think the tide has completely and irreversibly changed in OKC’s favor. Again, I want to be wrong.

      Thanks for participating this morning. Enjoy the rest of the conference finals, and I’ll see you again next week…