Glad it worked for you AC. I admit this is pure speculation on my part but my theory is that it depends on the cam shaft position when you remove the CCT. This is based on my experience removing and replacing the cams 5 times now. :
( I am embarrassed to say)
OTOH, I would think the motor is much more likely to stop in a position where the cam is not pressing on, and experiencing a lot of torque from the valve. I expect that is why most have gotten away with it. I would guess 8 or 9 out of 10 times you will be OK. Maybe even more.
Good idea about rotating the motor by hand. That would at least let you know if it was out far enough to crash a valve, but I don't expect you would be able to detect one tooth off.
With the valve cover off, you can easily see if the cam is pressing on a valve AND tie the chain to the cam gear.
The next time one of us has the the valve cover off, we need to look to see if there is a crank position where no cams are pressing on the valves on either cam phase. i.e. no cams pushing valves, rotate 360, and still no cams pressing on valves. If that crank position exists and can be identified, then we could use it to safely change the CCT without removing the cover.
I would do it but I just put mine back together 1000 miles ago and hope not to do it again for another 25,000 miles! ::012:: Unless my CCT starts making noise on start up. :