Plenty of reasons for excitement in Portland

5. The team is in win-now mode

This Portland Trail Blazers team has big goals for this year and that should make any fan excited. It’s never fun going into the new year knowing your team is not going to be good or even try to be a contender any time soon. That is not case this year for Portland.

After years of rebuilding after LaMarcus Aldridge left and overachieving every year, this team has embraced their new role as a title contender in their eyes.

Last year’s playoff success gave this team a taste of what being a top team feels like.  They found out they had to better though after getting a double-digit lead every game against the Golden State Warriors, only to lose the series 4-0 because they couldn’t hold on to those leads over the more experienced Warriors.

The Blazers now know what they have to do to make another playoff push. Hopefully, they learned some lessons and took some things to work on after being swept, just like they did after being swept by the New Orleans Pelicans the year before.

They already went out and fixed some of their roster issues during the offseason and have better players that fit alongside their stars a ton better.

Damian Lillard presented a challenge to his teammates at a team dinner.

If the star player of your favorite team is talking like that, it will make any fan more than ready for the season to start.