FanHouse AlThornton

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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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.

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.

Blame the Clippers more than you credit Alvin Gentry, but whatever dude. Amar'e Stoudemire went off for 42 points on 20 FGAs, and added 11 rebounds in a second straight massive win for the Suns over L.A.'s stepchild.

Amar'e dominated the ball, taking eight more FGAs and seven more FTAs than any other Sun. That's smart for Phoenix: Stoudemire and Steve Nash (21 points, 12 assists) should be controlling the offense. And that's exactly what happened Wednesday. Cheers.

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.

Odd circumstances surround the Milwaukee point guard corps right now. On Thursday, the Bucks traded third-stringer Tyronn Lue to Orlando for two-guard Keith Bogans. Hours later, news broke that starter Luke Ridnour had a broken thumb, forcing him off the floor for a month. Too many serviceable PGs to only one in half-a-day.

But while the rest of the roster likes its wounds, Ramon Sessions -- the mysterious second-year, second-stringer -- has decided to take control. In an overtime loss to the Pistons, Sessions broke off 44 points (on ridiculous 80 percent True Shooting), 12 assists, five rebounds and four turnovers in 47 minutes. Sessions will be a restricted free agent this summer; this game alone boosted his salary a good amount.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Andray Blatche (sort of): "Thankfully, I found out that the top I was wearing was too long, which deemphasized the contours of my waist." -- The Onion, via Bullets Forever.

* "While he is no doubt to be commended for bringing the energy, the corniness gets to me from time to time: "Did you SEEEEE VC?", "Yi-normous!", "VC off another Yi-Z feed" and some purely incomprehensible screaming for every Brook Lopez dunk all made appearances throughout the evening." -- CelticsBlog.

* Greg Oden (sort of): "Here we go again, another day of practice. At least there hasn't been a Tsunami lately." -- Lowposts.

* LeBron's greatest season ever, Warriors coach-in-waiting Sidney Moncrief follows Bonzi to China, and Al Thornton's age catches up with him.

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.

No fan in Chicago or Los Angeles seems particularly happy about the Bulls-Clips overtime joint from Wednesday. The Bulls won, but needed a Ben Gordon four-point play to get to the extra frame. Tyrus Thomas logged only five minutes due to lingering effects of a possible concussion. On the other end ... well, you read the part about the four-point play, right? Eric Gordon clapped B.G. from behind on a three with less than a half-minute left. Simply brutal. Ben nailed it all (1 min 45 sec into this video), which left the Clips with one last shot to end it.

This is where Clippers fans seem to really have been beaten down. On this final play, Al Thornton took the shot -- a 20-foot fadeaway. Clipperblog describes the sequence. Clips Nation wonders if the play had been meant for Zach Randolph, who killed the Bulls through the second half. In his post-game press conference, coach Mike Dunleavy insisted it had been a Randolph play and that Thornton "just slashed in and got the ball."

The question becomes whether Thornton misheard the play call in the huddle, or whether he broke the play for reasons of anxiety (with time winding down) or for wanting the shot himself. As Clips Nation opines, it would seem impossible for a player to not understand what play a coach is calling when it been called a dozen times in the past hour. Either way, it reflects poorly on Thornton. Gordon made a huge mistake which let the Bulls back in. But Gordon's a 19-year-old rookie. Thornton has 100 games of NBA seasoning, and he's 25.