It would be premature for

to talk about his Great Comeback in the past tense, far too presumptuous to assume his wild basketball journey has come full circle and he's landed back in the NBA.

So when someone approached Morrison recently and asked him to open up about his return, he looked as if he'd just been told his favorite pet had died.

"Man," Morrison said, head sulking, shoulders shrugged. "I haven't even made the team yet."

But he went on to talk anyway. About being in Trail Blazers' training camp. About flirting with a return to the NBA. About his checkered past, his pseudo retirement from basketball, his wild return in Europe and his uncertain future.

Six years after a Portland radio station orchestrated a "Draft the Stache" campaign to try to help lure Morrison to the Blazers, the one-time college cult hero and former NBA lottery pick finally has donned the Blazers' trademark pinwheel logo. But the question remains: Will he wear it beyond the exhibition season?

"I hope so," Morrison said. "(Blazers management) told me to come here and be myself, try to get baskets and battle on defense. And that's what I've been doing. I know everybody is going to nit pick about my ability and my past, but I'm just here to play as best as I can and see what happens."

The 6-foot-8 small forward arrived into Portland without a guaranteed roster spot, willing to fight and scrap and do enough in October to earn a second basketball life. By all accounts, Morrison has performed well over the first two weeks of camp. Coach Terry Stotts has praised his work ethic, shooting ability and defensive effort. Teammates have credited him for providing a positive veteran presence to one of the NBA's youngest locker rooms.

Morrison, 28, said he had invitations to attend two other training camps, but settled on Portland because it was close to his home in Spokane, Wash., he was told he would be given a legitimate shot at making the team and the Blazers had an obvious need for a backup small forward. In his first exhibition game, he excelled against the Los Angeles Lakers, scoring nine points in 13 minutes to show he might just be able to provide an offensive spark off the bench.

But his odds of landing a regular-season job became more complicated on Friday. He went scoreless in 12 minutes against the Phoenix Suns and, during the game, the Blazers snatched small forward Justin Holiday off of waivers and added him to the mix of contenders for a roster spot. But a little competition means nothing to Morrison, who has been through more ups and downs the last six years than most players endure in a career.

After an All-American career at Gonzaga, the Charlotte Bobcats drafted Morrison No. 3 overall in the 2006 NBA draft and owner Michael Jordan thought he had landed a star. But Morrison started just 23 games and averaged 11.8 points his rookie season -- solid but hardly No. 3-pick worthy -- and then suffered a gruesome left knee injury the following preseason, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in an exhibition game against the Lakers. He underwent reconstructive surgery and his star power quickly faded.

The Bobcats eventually traded Morrison to the Lakers and he won two NBA Championship rings. But his love for basketball slowly waned and the NBA's interest in him followed suit. The Washington Wizards invited Morrison to training camp in 2010, but waived him before the season. He left Washington, D.C., for Washington state and hunkered down on the 15 acres of country property he owns outside Spokane, quietly retiring from the NBA.

"I think I was kind of going through the motions," Morrison said of his nondescript ending with the Wizards. "I didn't play well, I didn't really want to play well and ..."

He paused to gather his thoughts, when someone said: "Your heart wasn't in it?"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," he answered.

And that's where Morrison's basketball tale could have ended. He loved life away from the limelight, relished being a stay-at-home dad to his two children. He bought an ATV with a snowplow and roamed his property daily, plowing powder and wandering his land. He spent Christmas with his family. He soaked up the solitude.

And besides catching the occasional Gonzaga game on television, Morrison didn't so much as watch basketball, let alone pick one up.

"People think I was all depressed, but I was like, 'This is awesome,'" he said. "I got to spend time with my family, have Christmas at home, relax. I was able to exhale. It gave me a lot of perspective on things. I think it was good for me."

He remained content for about a year, until he wandered down to the McCarthey Athletic Center to watch the Gonzaga players work out. One visit become two and two became three. Before Morrison knew it, his competitive juices were flowing, his mind contemplated a return to the court and he got the itch to play again.

So Morrison started his comeback. He hadn't touched a basketball or worked out for a year and he was in the worst shape of his life. The first month, he said, he was "horrible." But Morrison slowly worked himself into shape and his love for the game slowly worked itself back into him. His heart was back in it.

Morrison called his agent, Mark Bartelstein, and told him he was ready to work. By now the NBA was in the middle of a lockout, so there would be no NBA opportunities. But Morrison thought Bartelstein might find him a European gig in Spain or Italy or France -- a beautiful country with high-level basketball.

"Instead, he got me a spot in Serbia," Morrison said. "He's like, 'This is all I can get you, man. You've got to take this if you want to keep playing.' So I had to take it."

The player who once rubbed elbows with Jordan, who flew from one NBA city to the next aboard fancy charter planes, suddenly found himself in the middle of a foreign land riding buses from strange town to strange town along twisting country roads.

Serbia has a long and proud basketball tradition, featuring native players like Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic, but it's a long way from the NBA. Morrison's team, Red Star Belgrade, practiced twice a day, every day. And his coach, Svetislav Pesic, makes Bobby Knight look like Betty White.

Pesic, a local legend, threw water bottles at officials during games and regularly earned ejections. One time in a practice, Morrison said, the coach snatched a basketball from an 18-year-old player after he committed a turnover and kicked the ball square into his chest from about five feet away.

Morrison lasted about 2 1/2 months in Serbia, then spent another three months playing in Turkey. By summer 2012, he was back in the United States in the Las Vegas Summer League. He averaged 20.0 points and 5.0 rebounds and caught the attention of at least three general managers, including the Blazers' Neil Olshey. He hasn't played in an NBA game since the playoffs in April 2010.

If you ask Morrison to explain his comeback, he might say, "It's better than sitting at home," or "I'm just trying to see if I can squeeze a few more pennies out of the round ball." But the truth is, Morrison has a burning desire to give it one more go. Not because he needs the money. Not because he longs for the lifestyle. Not even to prove his haters wrong.

"It would mean a lot to be able to look myself in the mirror and say, 'I did it.'" Morrison said. "But if I don't make it, at least I can look myself in the mirror and say, 'I didn't go out like a sucker,' and walk away knowing that I didn't just give up. Obviously it would mean the world if I made it back. But for me, just being able to look myself in the mirror and know that I'm not a quitter is enough."

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