After a surprising year that led them all the way to the second round of the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers will try to take the next step in the 2016-17 season. That could come via a big free-agent signing.

General manager Neil Olshey met with the media on Wednesday and said the team would look at signing a top player this summer to pair with point guard Damian Lillard and shooting guard C.J. McCollum, who had a breakout season that earned him the Most Improved Player award. The team has made the playoffs as a four or five seed for the past three seasons, but now that Lillard and McCollum are entering their primes, they're poised to make a splash.

While the Blazers certainly have talent on their roster, the biggest obstacle for them will be making Portland an attractive location for potential signees.

Here's what Olshey had to say about that, per Jason Quick of Sportsnet Northwest:

“The easy way out is to say, ‘Hey we are in non-destination market, we aren’t going to play in that pond,’’’ Olshey said. “I don’t think that is true … We just need to get the first domino to fall.’’

Since LaMarcus Aldridge left for the San Antonio Spurs last offseason, Portland's most obvious weakness has been in the low post. Center Mason Plumlee had a fine season on the boards (11.8 RPG), but didn't bring much in the way of offense (7.0 PPG) or shot-blocking (1.0 BPG).

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This makes free agents like Al Horford, Hassan Whiteside and Dwight Howard very enticing for the Blazers. As Quick points out, the franchise certainly has the money to make a move of this caliber, with more than $20 million in cap room.

If the Blazers can land another star to go along with Lillard and McCollum, they could be a seriously dangerous team next season.

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