Rip City Project
Fansided

Imagining Portland Trail Blazers players as Disney+ characters

By Austin Carroll

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Portland Trail Blazers react from the bench during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Portland Trail Blazers react from the bench during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Portland Trail Blazers
PORTLAND, OR – OCTOBER 18: Zach Collins #33 and Jusuf Nurkic #27 of the Portland Trail Blazers high-five (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Marvel

Jusuf Nurkic – The Winter Soldier, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

If I asked you to think about a superhuman with Eastern European roots and training that was once sided with the bad guys but eventually came to his senses and converted back to the person he was meant to be, who comes to mind? Any rational person would answer Jusuf Nurkic, but that Bucky Barnes guy could be a pretty decent answer too I suppose.

Nurkic was held back in Denver before getting traded to the good guys in Portland, where his talents could truly shine. The Winter Soldier has played an essential role in the MCU to date and helped the leader of the team (Damian Lillard) become who he is today. Oh, is it a coincidence that team that drafted Nurkic — the Chicago Bulls — has the same primary color as Soviet Russia? I think not.

Zach Collins – Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man is the fresh face to the team that so far has only been tasked with a smaller workload, never being a big contributor to the main core of players. Even so, he has found himself in some pretty intense situations that could decide the fate and future of entire cities. Does this ring a bell?

Zach Collins is essentially Spider-Man. Especially after the death of Tony Stark (Al-Farouq Aminu), the unassuming city boy must step into his predecessor’s shoes and become the man his team needs him to be. Of course, this is assuming another franchise doesn’t attempt to steal him away from us. Sorry Sony, Collins isn’t on the trade block.

Kent Bazemore – Hawkeye, Hawkeye

We promise this isn’t just a bad pun considering Kent Bazemore was traded to Portland by the Hawks… OK, maybe it influenced the decision a tad but we still have our reasons, so hear us out. Bazemore has always been considered a quality role player in the league, but never enough to warrant achieving star status.

Hawkeye is similar in this regard, never seeming incredibly important even though he’s a member of the Avengers. But he certainly still has his uses, and the team just wouldn’t be as effective without him. Bazemore also shot 39.4 percent from deep in 2018, proving he’s an excellent sniper from deep just like Hawkeye.