Some years ago and about to enter the prime of his own career, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers went to his team’s ownership group and asked for evidence of a plan to get his team to a championship.
The unique enormous, one-time salary cap spike in the summer of 2016, saw a lot of teams spend a lot of money on a lot of players who did not necessarily deserve it, not at the time and certainly not in hindsight.
Yet the Blazers, infamously, did this more than anyone, going on a Nicolas Cage-esque spending spree that they almost immediately tried to backtrack on.
They gave out hundreds of millions of dollars to Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner, C.J. McCollum, Festus Ezeli, Meyers Leonard and Mo Harkless - a mere four years later, and only one of those players (McCollum) is still with the team. In fact, three are not even in the NBA anymore.
In spending like they did, the Blazers ruined a good thing. Taking away their ability to spend any more meant they were no longer able to improve the team, and when it became immediately obvious that those players were (mostly) not worthy of the enormous pay spikes, improvements was sorely needed.
Yet even when they were able to make some good margin pick-ups such as Shabazz Napier, Pat Connaughton and Jake Layman - the kind of cheap contributors that can help offset the damage at the front of the rotation - the Blazers were not able to keep them.
The most frustrating part of that was that they were still good, and sometimes very good. Two eighth-seed playoff appearances sandwiched a couple of third seeds and a Conference Finals run in 2018/19, done largely through the sheer individual excellence of Lillard. But with only a 35-39 record last season, that path to a title looked a long way off.
It is true to say that the injury to Jusuf Nurkic was a large part of why last season was such a disappointing one, but it would be too convenient to cite it to just that. There had been a talent drain over the previous few years that led to a striking lack of depth, one that was particularly evident last year in the lack of frontcourt two-way players and backcourt bench contributions.
Players such as Anfernee Simons and Mario Hezonja were overexposed and struggled, and, compounded by the injury to Rodney Hood as well, the Blazers were reliant on the Dame/McCollum pairing, the break-out shooting of Gary Trent and the freelancing if deeply flawed contributions on offence of Hassan Whiteside just to even make it in at all.
However, in this rushed 2020 off-season, the Blazers have bought hard and have bought extremely well. They have been able to find quality depth at all positions, addressed their pressing needs for frontcourt defenders, big wings and backcourt depth, and do it all without spending the enormous amount of money that cost them so dearly last time. Put more concisely, they have had a fantastic offseason.
It began as all the best off-seasons do with a surprising early strike. Only a few months previously, Robert Covington had been so highly valued on the trade market, especially by the Houston Rockets team that eventually acquired him.
But all the upheaval and turnover in Houston since that time meant that he was now available again, and the Blazers struck by dealing peripheral parts (Trevor Ariza's contract and a couple of replaceable first-round picks) in order to get the quality of defensive forward they have not seen in the Dame era.
They were also able to return Enes Kanter for next to nothing to shore up their back-up centre position - deeply flawed though he is, Kanter is the kind of player who benefits any team if he is given enough touches to score enough points to make up for those that he gives up on defence.
In addition to this, Hood was brought back, perhaps with the price lowered by his injury, and Carmelo Anthony was also brought back to play behind Covington and give some bench scoring.
Trent was kept on to provide scoring from the wing, Derrick Jones Jr was brought in from Miami to be the athlete and defender that was missing since Harkless was traded away, Nassir Little remained with a chance at becoming the same, and C.J. Elleby was drafted in the second round himself, a versatile forward with some craft and defensive motor.
Up front, Zach Collins it is hoped will be able to put in a full season as a hybrid four/five, a skilled two-way player yet to fully find his feet but with stretching talent offensively combined with genuine paint defence.
Even if he, and/or Nurkic, continues to suffer further injury, Portland were also able to pick up Harry Giles for incredibly cheap. Giles is a good prospect, regrettably let go by the Sacramento Kings who finishes a few, boards well, protects the area he is standing in quite well, and who passes considerably better than his lower assists-per-games totals suggest.
All in all, where once they were so brazen and aggressive in their acquisitions price be damned, this offseason saw the Blazers consistently get good players for good value. Now, the championship window looks open.
Hindering the team in recent seasons has been the overlap between Lillard and McCollum, with C.J. essentially being a lesser Lillard in his playing style.
McCollum is a very good NBA player in his own right and he enjoys tremendous chemistry with Dame, but in having two isolation-heavy backcourt scorers who use up so much time on the ball and who cost so much on the books, the team became too easy to defend, especially without the scoring, screening and facilitating of Nurkic.
However, a starting line-up of those three flanked with Hood and Covington offers offence at all positions plus a defensive star. A Blazers team that so rarely pass the ball last year (not through selfish play, but through a lack of options) should be unrecognisable next year.
The fact that they were able to do this without needing to move McCollum - which would have been a hard sell for Lillard considering quite how close the two are - has meant that all the roster turnover has come on the fringes. This in turn should mean good continuity and cohesion into which the new acquisitions can slide, and in being a relatively young team as well (Trent, Simons, Little, Jones, Giles, Elleby and Collins are all under 26), there is plenty of room for internal growth.
Indeed, the Blazers have balanced things very nicely this time around - the pricey players are the best ones, the good youngsters have team control, there are no wantaway players, and there is progression potential in both the short and medium terms.
When Lillard went to ownership to ask what they could do for him, he was making a point: "I need more," and in turn, he gave more, becoming even better as a scorer and shooter while also improving his defence that was once so poor. He became an excellent all-around player that could foreseeably be the best player on a championship team.
And now, with good health, they finally have a chance of being one. It is not a strong chance, perhaps, but in doing the work that they did over the last three weeks, last year's eighth seed put themselves in the conversation.