Pelton: Portland a Possible Destination For Disgruntled Markieff Morris

Down in the Sunshine State, forward Markieff Morris has expressed his displeasure with the Phoenix Suns over the trade of his younger brother Marcus Morris.  Marcus was dealt earlier this offseason in a salary dump as the Suns tried to lure LaMarcus Aldridge to the team.

Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com offered a few destinations for the elder Morris should the Suns decide to move on from their young star.  Boston and Toronto were the two favorites, but Portland was mentioned as a possible trade partner.  According to Pelton, the Suns could consider a 1-for-1 swap of Morris for Noah Vonleh, who had a tremendous Summer League performance for the Blazers.

Pelton writes "As promising as Vonleh is -- he just had an impressive performance at the NBA summer league in Las Vegas -- he's still coming off a rookie season where he played just 259 minutes. Adding Morris might push Portland into playoff contention, and at 25 (he'll be 26 next month), Morris is the same age as Blazers star Damian Lillard."

One wonders if Vonleh alone would be enough to pry Morris from Phoenix, considering he averaged career-highs in virtually every statistical category last season, scoring 15.3 points per game and averaging 6.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.2 steals.  Morris may not be in the same class of player as Aldridge, but would be a good consolation prize for the Trail Blazers, an opinion shared by Willy Raedy of BlazersEdge.