PORTLAND -- Little was expected from the Portland Trail Blazers last season. Especially since after a lengthy courting process by numerous teams, franchise star LaMarcus Aldridge decided to head home to Texas to play for the San Antonio Spurs. This started a domino effect in Portland that drastically transformed the roster and expectations.

Perhaps sensing that Aldridge was going to leave, the Blazers traded Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets for Gerald Henderson and the young and raw Noah Vonleh. Then after Aldridge signed with the Spurs, and the Blazers let Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthew and Arron Afflalo leave in free agency without even the whimper of a fight. Just like that, Portland, a 51-win team that season, had lost four of its five starters.

After losing the core of their starting unit, the Blazers promoted from within, moving C.J. McCollum into the starting lineup. Portland also traded for Mason Plumlee and signed Al-Farouq Aminu to round out their frontcourt. The Blazers now had a brand new starting lineup led by Damian Lillard and a bench of young and unproven players. They're talented for sure, but in the tough Western Conference, the Blazers seemed to be lacking the experience to keep them in the postseason hunt.

Yet that wasn't the case.

Guided by the expertise of Terry Stotts and coupled with the emergence of McCollum and the leadership of Lillard, the Blazers finished fifth in the West with a record of 44-38. Then, partly due to injuries to Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, Portland got out of the first round and then competitively played against the Warriors before losing in five games.

The Blazers had defied their rebuild expectations and now despite being still fairly young, Portland is viewed as a legitimate playoff team. To ensure that the Blazers remain on this postseason path, Portland spent a fair amount in free agency this offseason, re-signing Allen Crabbe Meyers Leonard and Mo Harkless, offering a long-term extension to McCollum and signing free-agents Evan Turner and Festus Ezeli. This high amount of spending wasn't frivolous in the minds of Portland's management, it was done with the intent to ensure long-term success as the players matured and reached their primes.

"Everybody got sticker shock when they looked at the numbers." Blazers GM Neil Olshey said at media day on Monday. "We look at things based on percentage of cap. And when you look at the salaries given out to our players in order to retain them, based on the percentage of cap, if you go back to what that would've been four or five years ago on that cap, these are commensurate salaries.

"We think [these] are guys who will perform above market value based on the contracts they got. We had success last year. And I think, what we realized was, it was imperative that we retain our better young players and get them to commit long-term to our organization."

Taking a long-term approach while still staying competitive is a savvy move by the Blazers. Especially since the top tier of the conference got even stronger with Golden State's addition of Kevin Durant. Portland has this luxury thanks to the average age of its rosters (25). However, the Blazers have a glut of talented players in several positions in the frontcourt which could impact the development of Portland's youngsters due to the lack of available playing time.

Ezeli (when he returns from injury), Plumlee, Ed Davis, Aminu, Leonard, Harkless, Crabbe, Turner and Vonleh will all be competing for minutes in the frontcourt. Crabbe and Turner can also play at the two-guard. But while this is impressive depth, Portland seems destined to have a logjam, but Olshey disagrees, citing that the depth makes the Blazers more versatile as a team.

"While we may have redundancies in terms of position, we don't really have redundancies in terms of skill set because the guys all play different styles of basketball." Olshey said. "[Coach Stotts] is so creative, especially at the offensive end of the floor. He puts guys in great position to succeed."

Stotts wholeheartedly agrees with Olshey's assessment of the team's roster

"There's a lot of depth to our roster, more than any team I've had," Stotts said. "We have a lot of players who can have an impact to finish games. The first three years, we were relying on the starters. Last year, the depth was versatile and helped us get through the season, and we improved on that this year. We look at the season as a continuation of last season."

Damian Lillard believes the Blazers can only go up from last season. USATSI

Amazingly, the players themselves also don't see an issue with their crowded bench. Every player who spoke at media day, welcomed the competition for minutes and believed it would not only make the team better, but players would also see individual growth. While some players on opposing teams are already questioning playing time, the Blazers are doing the opposite, sticking by one another as a cohesive unit.

Even Turner, the older player on the team who signed with and had aspirations of starting, is on board with coming off the bench and embracing whatever role Stotts puts him in.

"When I was younger, being a starter was more of an ego thing for me," Turner said. "Now it's more about who finishes, who plays better with each other and what's best for the unit. We'll see who plays best and who complements each other. It's not too much to worry about anymore. I just have to come in and do what I can do to help us win."

This type of team-first attitude and the culture in Portland comes from Stotts but it also comes from their leader, Lillard. Just like the previous offseason, Lillard put together a team-bonding trip to San Diego, where the team ate all three meals together, worked out together and played pickup together. This type of team-bonding activity has further fostered a close-knit relationship among the players and is one reason why they are no egos when it comes to contracts or playing time in Portland.

"We like each other." Lillard said. "In this business, you have a lot of competition amongst teams. You got a lot of egos. Some guys don't like this guy, so they might turn you against another guy. And we just don't [that] on our team. We spend time around each other. Guys like each other. We enjoy being around each other."

"Our confidence is in-house," Leonard said, echoing Lillard. "We approach every day the same way. We work hard. We compete between the lines. We're buddies. We like to hang together. We follow the culture that has been established."

While liking one another could be interpreted as simplistic and non-essential to a team's success, just take a look at the Warriors, the Spurs and the Cavs. All three are highly successful teams that not only do plenty of winning, but also enjoy playing together. Those two things go hand in hand and the Blazers, led by Lillard and guided by Stotts, are creating the same type of environment in Portland. It won't be instantaneous but the foundation is being created and with their youth, the future is definitely bright for the Blazers.

"We have so many young guys who haven't become what they can be." Lillard said. "I get excited about what we can be as a group."