Like so many other Trail Blazers campaigns, the season started last Monday with a team dinner at The Foundry on the banks of Lake Oswego.



Although the venue was familiar, and the same leaders addressed the team — top executive Neil Olshey, followed by team stars Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and finally coach Terry Stotts — the message at the dinner was different than in any other in the Olshey/Stotts/Lillard era.



For the first time in their eight seasons together, the pillars of the Trail Blazers franchise said they used a word in their speeches they never felt comfortable using before.



Championship.



“And we didn’t even beat around the bush,” Lillard said. “It wasn’t, ‘Let’s make the playoffs and then do this or that,’ … it was, ‘Let’s win the championship.'”



While every team has the goal to win the championship, few believe it and even fewer have a...