Thornton waiting to break through

Al Thornton has frequently changed his appearance in the early season -- his hair from a short afro, to cornrows, to closely cropped. He wears long socks and a headband one night and neither the next.

He is also still searching for the right look on the court.

The highly regarded rookie and the 14th overall draft pick has not necessarily struggled in the early going, but there have also been none of the scoring outbursts he flashed in the exhibition season.

At times, he appears timid and defers to his older teammates. Other times, he appears too rushed on his jump shots.

“It’s still a learning process,” said Thornton, who is expected to miss a couple of games after spraining his ankle in Friday’s loss to Golden State.

“It’s pretty much up and down. I want to reach a level of consistency. Sometimes, I’ll have a good game and then drop some. I expect that to happen.”

Thornton is averaging 5.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and less than half an assist and shooting only 31.9% from the floor.

His best performance came in a misleading three-of-13 shooting game against the Indiana Pacers, in which he also collected seven rebounds.

“His shooting numbers don’t look good. He got caught where he was the rookie,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said of Thornton’s game against the Pacers.

“The vets all threw him the ball late in the clock and he has to hoist one up.”

Dunleavy said it’s only a matter of time before Thornton exhibits his promise in a regular-season game.

“What we are looking from him is to come in games, know our coverages, so he can defend right, take care of the ball, don’t be too wound up,” he said.

“Because we know he has the ability to be explosive when he’s out there. When he’s out there, it can happen in a hurry for him,” Dunleavy said.

If the Clippers had staggered out of the gate, the need for Thornton to contribute immediately would have been more urgent. Instead, Dunleavy is bringing him along gradually, in hopes of seeing Thornton spark on any give night.

“He’s given us some good minutes,” Dunleavy said.

Dunleavy said that Corey Maggette would also be out for a couple of games.

Maggette, who sustained a strained right hamstring against the Warriors, is the team’s leading scorer at 19.8 points a game.

“He plays hard and takes a lot of hits,” Dunleavy said. “For somebody to play 82 games, it’s going to take a lot.”

“If you have a guy that’s durable, he’s going to play 75-plus games.”

With the injuries regularly biting the Clippers, Dunleavy said Chris Kaman’s health would be crucial.

Kaman, averaging 18.4 points and 14.0 rebounds, already received three stitches and bruised his leg this season, but has played every game.

“The one guy we can’t afford to lose is Kaman,” Dunleavy said. “If something happened to him, we would have some issues.”

ESPN announced it would no longer broadcast the Clippers’ game at Denver on Nov. 30.

Instead, it will broadcast the teams’ Feb. 29 game.

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com