Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, the team's best scorer, is going to miss 4-6 weeks after tearing a ligament in his thumb. This is rightfully cause for concern among Trail Blazers fans. It's never good when a player gets injured. But in a year virtually devoid of playoff expectations, this might actually be a blessing in disguise for two reasons.

Chance to develop the future stars

The Blazers have a logjam at the guard spots. Simons, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and reigning NBA 6th Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon all deserve minutes. But the Trail Blazers have signaled that they are looking toward the future. Not just in the grand scheme of things by trading Damian Lillard, either. It's also in the day-to-day things, like Chauncey Billups' decision to start Sharpe over Brogdon in Simons' absence.

After the game, Billups praised Sharpe's performance, where he led the team with 24 points:

“I thought Shae was obviously really good. We needed his scoring…needed his shooting with Ant down. We have a void there. So, I thought he stepped in, and he was aggressive the entire time. And he's going to have to be. He's going to be a long, long, long time starter in this league and that's the guy he's going to need to be.”

Billups went on to say that Sharpe will continue to be the Trail Blazers' starting shooting guard in Simons' absence. After all, it has to happen at some point if Sharpe is going to be the player that the Trail Blazers envision:

“I think it's time for (Sharpe and Henderson) to start growing up. To learn. So (Sharpe and Henderson starting) will stay right there where it's at.”

While Simons' absence may put more pressure on Scoot, with one less release valve able to knock down shots on the perimeter available, it won't hurt his development to have to try other ways to generate offense for the Trail Blazers.

Scoot had a much better start to Friday night's game than his rough-shooting debut, but getting into foul trouble early hampered his flow. Scoot picked up three fouls less than nine minutes into the first quarter and was forced to sit the rest of the half.

After the game, Henderson put it as simply as possible: “Man, I gotta stop fouling.”

While Henderson was frustrated on the court with the whistles, he was able to acknowledge the issues with the sort of light-heartedness that has already endeared him to so many in Portland. His game may take time to develop. It does for almost all 19-year-old point guards. But just by the nature of his personality, Scoot Henderson is going to be just fine.

Being forced to work through foul trouble a little more than he would if Simons were healthy, is a solid exercise that he'll learn from quickly.

More ping pong balls

Of course, developing the young guards isn't the only potential benefit to Simons missing time. To put it bluntly, the Trail Blazers aren't going to win many games this season. They're a fun team. They're an interesting team. They just aren't a particularly good team yet. This is a roster that needs more than to develop the backcourt. They also need a young star big man to add to the roster, most likely through the draft. Losing Simons for at least a month may help tip the scales in their favor come NBA Draft Lottery time with the extra losses they may end up suffering until his return.

In a season where the lottery was already all but guaranteed, getting a few extra ping pong balls and having some extra minutes open early due to an unfortunate, but not season or career-threatening injury to Simons could be a blessing in disguise. It's not the way the Trail Blazers wanted things to go. But being forced to react to adversity is the best thing in the long run.

The Blazers take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.