Portland has been one of the fun on-the-court stories of the early season. This is a promising team that plays hard and is entertaining to watch, behind Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe, with good young players such as Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan (not to mention the potential of Yang Hansen), and veterans Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant. Portland has been a pleasant
surprise this season.

They have done all this without Scoot Henderson.

The former No. 3 pick and potential franchise anchor has been out since late September with a torn left hamstring. When the injury occurred prior to the start of training camp, the Trail Blazers put a 4-8 week timeline on his return, but we now just hit the eight-week mark, and Henderson is not close to returning. Here is what he told Jason Quick of The Athletic.

Entering his eighth week since tearing his left hamstring, the third-year point guard told The Athletic he has "made a lot of progress," but he said his return to basketball activity remains "week to week."...

"I can walk around to spots, but no jumping, no exploding," Henderson told The Athletic... "I shoot free throws, some ballhandling, but without moving much."

Henderson doesn't sound particularly close to returning, but Portland is wise to be patient with hamstring injuries, which can be slow to heal and prone to reaggravation.

Entering his third season, this was going to be a big evaluation season for Portland and Henderson. He had taken steps forward in his first two seasons, but would he live up to his hype and potential? Was he going to be a franchise cornerstone at the point? A quality starter? A rotation player? The Trail Blazers needed to evaluate him alongside Avdija and Sharpe, then decide on a direction for this team going forward. It's an evaluation season for everyone in Portland — including coach Tiago Splitter, who was forced into the head coaching job after the arrest of Chauncey Billups as part of a federal gambling investigation.

That evaluation of Henderson is paused while he recovers. And it looks like it'll be paused for at least a few more weeks.