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When the Perth Wildcats stepped onto the floor for their first NBL Blitz game of 2022, Bryce Cotton seemed intent on sending a message to the league.
We’d all just come off a season where he was dethroned by Jaylen Adams as the NBL’s Most Valuable Player, and his Wildcats’ historic playoff streak came to an end. It was, without question, a wildly disappointing campaign by Cotton’s extremely high standards.
So, a vintage performance against a young Cairns Taipans team to officially open the Wildcats’ preseason was a good and early reminder from Cotton that he still sits firmly at the highest point on the NBL mountaintop.
Cotton dropped an easy 36 points, doing anything he wanted off pin-downs, on-balls, one-on-one action; every way he’s capable of scoring – of which there are many — he showed it off in this one.
“Man, it’s unreal,” his teammate, Luke Travers, told ESPN. “Everyone knows he could possibly be in the NBA – he’s definitely good enough – so it’s fun when he gets in that zone.”
The talk around the league has largely been about how balanced the Wildcats’ roster is going into the new season, which is true; general manager, Danny Mills, has done an impressive job filling needs and giving John Rillie a cohesive group to work with. Truth be told, though, all that sentiment really means is that the team has done a good job building around Cotton.
“That’s gonna happen again this year, where he gets into that zone,” Rillie told ESPN. “I love to watch it, and the guys love watching it, but we can’t just stand and watch. We have to be proactive participants in that display.
“When a player of that magnitude is in the zone; as a coach, you don’t wanna encroach on that feeling. My job is to make sure those other four guys are doing their part to allow him to experience that.”
The sentiment is widespread across the Wildcats roster. “When he gets in those modes, you just have to do everything else to help him out and make shots easier for him,” Travers said.
Corey Webster, Cotton’s newest teammate, knows the deal, too: “We’re here to complement him, and I think we have a great mix of players who know their roles.”
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Thus far, it looks like these Wildcats aren’t just talking the talk. Rillie’s team already looks to be meshing on both ends, putting together an impressive preseason and emerging as one of the favourites to win it all. The feel around the organisation is already exhibiting a stark improvement from last season, where there seemed to be a cultural lull that saw the Wildcats break its 35-year playoff streak.
It was obviously the first time Cotton wasn’t involved in an NBL postseason, and that didn’t sit well with the three-time champion.
“I see it the same way as going through a season and not winning a championship,” Cotton told ESPN. “Whether you make the playoffs or you don’t, if you’re not holding the trophy at the end of the year, it’s the same result. We want to get back to that, and try to put ourselves in the best position to compete for a championship. That’s the only thing that’s on my mind.”
Cotton is deceiving. He may well have the smallest frame in world basketball, but is enviably skilled and his IQ is through the roof.
The 30-year-old is also infinitely curious. When he’s not battering Rillie with questions about the history of the NBL and its players, he’s watching old games to get a better idea of the context of the league.
“I remember our first conversation,” Rillie said. “I already knew the type of player he was, but I could tell with our first interaction and the questions he was asking me; I knew that all he really worried about was winning. To hear that from a league MVP, a championship player, that’s what matters.”
Long-term imports have existed in the modern NBL, but winning really is what separates Cotton from the rest. The production is what’s sexy, but it’s the three NBL titles in five years — and the real potential for more to come — that we’ll point to when discussing Cotton’s legacy in Australia.
It’s what makes him the clear-cut best player in the NBL today, and already in the discussion as one of the greatest imports to ever arrive in Australia.
“You should allow the guy to play out his career and then we can assess who the greatest import is,” Rillie said. “The way I view the best import ever: you have to bring championships into that conversation, on top of just pure statistics. He’s got three championships and hopefully we can add a few more to his collection; that’d make that question a whole lot easier.”
Cotton is settled in Australia, and in Perth, but in a healthy way. He just re-signed with the Wildcats on a new three-year deal that would take him through to an eighth year with the franchise, and has hope that a recent re-filing of his citizenship application will result in good news after a few years of anxious and unsuccessful waiting.
Despite his immense trophy case and a legacy that’s already effectively set in stone, Cotton is still hungry for more, and as motivated as ever.
That motivation?
“Just seeing how many times I can keep doing the same thing, until I can’t play anymore,” Cotton said, sheepishly but eerily. “That’s what it’s about. It’s such a journey, metaphorically speaking, climbing to the top of the mountain. Once you get there, there’s a new challenge seeing how long you can stay there.”
How long can he stay at the mountaintop?
Cotton grinned: “I guess we’ll all find out.”
