Yeah, What He Said...

In all the hoopla over Brian Skinner's post-trade comments about the situation in Portland, my favorite phrase was coined by Chris Jenkins of the Associated Press: "Contagious Apathy."

According to Jenkins, Skinner said of the Blazers' apathy:

"It's contagious, and it carried like wildfire throughout the whole team," Skinner said Monday. "Even players that were really dedicated and really wanted to be there, just made it seem like it was for naught."

"It's everything," Skinner said. "From the way you just sit down at the dinner table, to how you walk, you can just tell when a player (has) not really lost their passion, but just lost their initiative to go out and try to win. And it just goes through everything. It goes through everything and completely destroys a team."

Skinner said he respected veteran teammates such as Voshon Lenard and Theo Ratliff, but didn't care for some of the team's younger players. Skinner didn't single out any specific players by name for criticism.

"They come in with that ego, and sometimes you have to put them back in their place," Skinner said.

Many have characterized these and other comments by Skinner as sour grapes, saying he's bad-mouthing the team and his former team-mates. I don't see what he said that was so wrong. In fact, everything he said was true. I agree that Blake has every right to feel like he was slapped in the face. I agree that many players quit towards the end of the season, and that he and others were frustrated by it. I agree that once certain players quit, it "spread like wildfire" through the rest of the team. And I also agree that some younger players were trying to step into leadership roles that perhaps Skinner felt they weren't ready for.

Skinner didn't sound bitter, he didn't exaggerate, he didn't claim victim status, he didn't play shoulds-coulda-woulda; he simply gave thoughtful, honest answers to direct questions. Frankly, I found it somewhat refreshing after the way many other former Blazers bad-mouthed the team, the organization, and in some cases even the fans once they left Portland.