FanHouse Al Thornton

On the eve of yet another rebuilding season, the Los Angeles Clippers revealed on Monday night that Blake Griffin's knee injury was far more serious than initially feared: he's been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left kneecap (the patella, to be precise) and could be sidelined up to six weeks. He suffered the injury in the team's final preseason game.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

A season ago, the Clippers began the year with a renewed sense of optimism. After losing team staples Elton Brand and Corey Maggette to free agency, the club didn't stand pat -- they went out and got some pieces they hoped would make them better.

Well, things didn't exactly work put as planed. Injuries derailed things fairly quickly, and instead of Baron Davis being the one to revive the franchise, he was merely a bystander who watched the team post its worst won-loss record in nine years.

There was a bright side to last year's debacle, however, as it landed the Clippers the number one overall pick in the draft, which they used to select Blake Griffin. With a healthy group to start the season, and some smart tweaks to the roster, L.A. once again has reason to be cautiously optimistic.

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FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Hard to believe that several NBA general managers can have regrets after two years, but it's true. The results of the 2007 NBA Draft are slowly reaping, which should teach a lesson to their 2009 brethren on Thursday about taking chances on raw college players, international prospects and even those who are allegedly "proven."

The biggest debate two years ago was whether the Portland Trail Blazers should take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant first overall. Oden was a franchise center out of Ohio State while Durant was the smooth scoring swingman from Texas. Durant had the better workout with the Blazers, apparently blowing the mind of coach Nate McMillan. Yet, the Blazers stuck with conventional thinking and took the big man.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

NBA superstar LeBron James is having an amazing season, having led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the best record in the NBA. This makes him the leading candidate for the 2009 NBA MVP, if not bigger, Fabio-like levels of stardom. In this video we catch up with LeBron to hear what he thinks about the award, as well as the Fabio comparison. Plus, we ask LeBron who he pick if he had a vote. We also hear from Al Thornton, Steve Blake, Nicolas Batum and Travis Outlaw, and get their picks for the 2009 MVP too.

Check out the video after the jump.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Joe Johnson has leveled off after a stunning start to the season. Of course, "leveled off" simply puts J.J. back in the tangible stratosphere instead of another galaxy. As such, his terrific 35 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Portland still stands out as one of Sunday's best lines, Earthbound or not.

It would be disingenuous for me to fail to prequalify any comments I have about Clippers owner Donald Sterling with the admission that I think he's a complete skeez. So: I think Donald Sterling is a complete skeez. I have little respect for him as an NBA owner, or as a man.

But this is basketball, and Sterling is (in theory) a basketball man, and so let's talk about basketball, man. According to numerous reports, including one from Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times, Sterling entered the locker room after the Clippers' Monday loss to San Antonio and berated the entire team. According to Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sterling told Al Thornton that he was the most selfish player he'd ever seen and told coach Mike Dunleavy to shut up.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Many people across the globe will be ringing in 2009 in style, and naturally that includes NBA players. In this video we talk to Marcus Camby, Al Thornton, Eric Gordon, Paul Davis and more about what they have planned for the new year. But most importantly, find out which player's plans for 2009 include some salty fish, a shot of Jack, and starting a new clothing line.

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Millions of Americans were very excited about the victory of President-elect Barack Obama, and that included many of the NBA's players. In this video we hear from the players about what the victory means to them. Al Thornton tells us the results brought him to tears, while Stephen Jackson says he is excited, but regrets his great-grandparents aren't alive to see this day. We also hear from Tim Thomas, James Singleton and more, while another player says he is now interested in visiting the "Black House".

Check out the full video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Like the election itself, it's one of those topics where everyone has an opinion, where everyone's right and no one's wrong: Who is the best player in the NBA? In an effort to find out, we polled the experts themselves and talked to NBA players from around the league, including Amare Stoudemire, Eric Gordon, Steve Blake, Al Thornton, Ricky Davis (who had a surprising, yet smart, choice) and more. Some of the picks are expected, and some are sort of out of nowhere. But they're all worth checking out.

Watch the full video, chock full of "expert" opinions, after the jump.