Damian Lillard asked the Trail Blazers for a trade on July 1, intent that he wanted to chase an NBA championship — which likely wasn’t going to happen in Portland given the Blazers failed to bring in another transformative player over the summer. He voiced his desire to go to Miami, but a deal never materialized.

Lillard obviously will be missed: He averaged 32.2 points last season and has averaged at least 24 in each of the last eight seasons. He became just the seventh player in NBA history to score more than 70 points in a game when he finished with 71 against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 26.

The Portland Trail Blazers are moving on from the Damian Lillard era, turning the focus to a group of promising young players. But the specter of the seven-time All-Star still hangs over the team as it begins preparing for the new season.

Lillard, Portland’s franchise player for the last 11 years, was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks last week in a flurry of moves by the Blazers ahead of training camp. What’s left is largely a rebuilding project.

“It’s a lot, it’s definitely a lot. It’s part of the business. Gotta keep moving forward regardless,” said Jerami Grant, who at 29 suddenly finds himself the second-oldest player on the team. “We lost a lot of big pieces. We also got a lot of big pieces as well. So definitely looking forward to making it work.”

Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said he’s excited about his new team. The Trail Blazers head to camp in Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday. There are seven rookies on the training camp roster and five players with just one year of experience.

“We’re going to be young, we need to be able to play fast, we need to be athletic,” Billups said. “We want to play that type of brand of basketball.”