I made plans earlier this week to stop by Elton Brand's office to talk with him about his turn as a blogger on Koolse.com, a new professional networking site founded by his longtime friend Keegan Sims. The night before our scheduled interview, Clips point guard Shaun Livingston went down (10 feet from me as I filmed for LAO) with a freak knee injury that may keep him sidelined for a year. When I met up with Elton yesterday, he had just spoken to Shaun for the first time since the injury occured.

Brand told me that he and his teammates "all have to take it upon ourselves to fulfil [Livingston's] role," and that he'd be happy taking up some third-string point guard duties. I thought he was joking until I saw him dish out a season-high 7 assists tonight in the team's first complete game since losing Livingston.

Take a look at our wide-ranging conversation (disclaimer: the video of Livingston's injury is graphic, viewer discretion is advised):

LAO video edited by Alex Gans and photographed by Thomas Macker