"Theories abound over the 7-foot center's decline, which culminated in benchings in the C's final three playoff games. The 29-year-old veteran had lost his passion. He had grown apart from his teammates. He never took to his new coach, Rivers. He crumbled under the pressure of the six-year, $38 million deal.

And then there was the most cynical notion - that Blount, new deal comfortably in hand, simply stopped working."