#3. The Portland Trail Blazers and the 2020 Milwaukee Bucks had strong cores to build on
The hardest aspect to building a true contender is finding a number one option. The Bucks had it in Giannis, and the Blazers have theirs in Dame.
It wasn’t like Milwaukee built a championship team overnight around the Greek Freak though. They traded for a perfect complement to Giannis in Khris Middleton, who turned out to be well-worth giving up Brandon Jennings to acquire him. The two formed a formidable one-two punch, previously doubted for their ability to be the frontrunners on a title team, that answered the ultimate question.
The Bucks surrounded their two stars with solid role players and continued to upgrade them and find better fits until they finally solved the puzzle.
The Blazers have Damian Lillard. They have a firm foundation around him. Their starting five from last season with Dame, CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Robert Covington, and Jusuf Nurkic finished as the fourth most effective five-man lineup in the league.
However, Neil Olshey and the Blazers cannot get complacent, they cannot afford to run it back. Lillard is starving for a championship and the window is open now. Milwaukee never settled; they never stopped trying to improve.
Even if they made some mistakes along the way, like losing Malcolm Brogdon, they kept swinging for the fences and by God, they did it.
The Blazers have a strong foundation to build off of. Now it’s time to continue the climb.