PORTLAND — Dame Time has survived another organizational adjustment.
The latest development involves Ja Morant, whose Grade 2 left hamstring strain will sideline him for at least several weeks and require the Trail Blazers to reorganize a backcourt that had only recently finished being assembled.
Morant will be re-evaluated in four weeks after suffering the injury against his former team, Memphis, on Thursday.
For Portland, the timing is inconvenient.
The Blazers entered the season with an unusually deep collection of guards, including franchise icon Damian Lillard and their newest high-profile addition.
The arrangement was supposed to give Portland options.
Now those options are being converted into a contingency plan.
Fortunately, Lillard has considerable experience with basketball situations in which the team needs someone to organize the offense, create shots and occasionally explain why the entire possession ended with him shooting from an unreasonable distance.
In Saturday's 112–90 victory over Utah, Lillard scored 22 points while Deni Avdija added 24, providing an encouraging early example of how Portland can operate without Morant.
A single game does not establish a permanent solution, and the Blazers will still need to manage minutes and responsibilities as the schedule becomes more demanding.
But Portland has already discovered something useful.
When one star guard becomes unavailable, having another star guard is a fairly convenient emergency measure.
Dame Time remains operational.
The scheduling department, however, is going to need considerably more flexibility.
