For someone whose jersey will hang in the rafters of RAC Arena likely minutes after he retires, Bryce Cotton is remarkably humble.
He’d have a good reason not to be; since he joined the NBL in 2017 he has undoubtedly been the league’s best player, raking in both team and individual accolades at an alarming rate.
But in Perth, half a decade since first suiting up for the Wildcats, Cotton has the demeanour of some who is content living in the moment.
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Once you know how he got to our shores, this makes a lot more sense.
“Long story short, I had a very interesting season when I was playing with [Anadolu Efes S.K.] in Turkey,” Cotton said.
“It was Euroleague, and just a lot of crazy things were happening, a bomb went off probably 20 minutes from where my apartment was, and once you’re miles and miles away from home, safety is the last thing you want to be thinking of, so I wanted to get out of that situation.
“My agent gave me an offer, I can go play with another team in Russia, or I can go play in Perth, and the way he explained it to me was Perth was last on the ladder at the time, so he said they’re not going to make playoffs, you’ll be there six weeks and you’ll have an early offseason, and you can regroup for the next year.”
So in January 2017, Cotton touched down in Western Australia, eagerly awaiting that early offseason. Three months later, the Perth Wildcats won their eighth NBL Championship, and Bryce Cotton was awarded the Finals MVP after a monumental 45-point game-three effort, breaking the record for most points scored in an NBL Finals game.
This was just the beginning.
Over Cotton’s next five years in the league, he would win three MVP awards (2018, 2020, 2021), two more championships (2019, 2020), another Grand Final MVP (2020), and for four straight years has been the league’s leading scorer.
After going on one of the most dominant runs in all professional sports, you would be forgiven for wondering if there was anything left for Cotton to achieve. But according to the 30-year-old, he owes it to himself to keep going.
“I go into every season with a chip on my shoulder regardless of what success or shortcomings we have, it’s just kind of what’s made me who I am my whole life, just finding something to stay self-motivated,” Cotton said.
“I think for me, this is everything I’ve worked for, and going back to when I was a young kid, I always envisioned myself going far with basketball, so I had to have that belief, and now that these things have manifested in so many different ways.
“I’m just trying to continue to keep going to see how long this ride can last.”
This long-term commitment is one of the things that has endeared Cotton to the Wildcats faithful, knowing that year in year out they will have their team’s centrepiece give it his all, with even talk of Cotton becoming a naturalised Australian, which is not only an incredibly strong commitment to the region but would also allow the Wildcats to sign another import player.
But despite his unrivalled success, Cotton’s presence has possibly been more important in the last year than any time before, as he helped Perth steer the ship through an uncharacteristically unstable period that includes three different head coaches in three years, and the Wildcats missing the NBL finals for the first time in over 35 years.
Cotton and the Wildcats are incredibly keen to bounce back from last season, and with new head coach John Rillie at the helm, he feels that the team is headed in the right direction.
“I feel pretty good, we had a very very good preseason, I felt the guys had an opportunity to get real locked in and get familiar with [John Rillie] so he’s been an amazing coach so far,” Cotton said.
“We love his approach and he makes things pretty clear about what he expects from us on the floor offensively and defensively so, so far so good.
“It was definitely a whirlwind having three coaches in three seasons but I feel now, going into this year, especially with how we’ve started it seems like there’s going to be some stability, so there’s a little bit of solace in that, and other than that we just have to go out there and try to win ball games regardless of what’s going on in the organisation.”
And win games Bryce Cotton does.
His stature in the league during his tenure has been so great that as often happens, talk around him has turned to his legacy, more specifically whether or not he is the greatest ever NBL import, a title that some have already awarded him.
“That’s not a title or even a conversation I ever imagined would’ve been coming up when I first came to Australia, so the fact that you know, people hold me, I guess, in such high regard is pretty cool,” Cotton said.
“But I still keep my tunnel vision on what I feel I need to be doing out there on the floor.”
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Cotton is humble in praise, but he does not deny it, his level of self-belief clearly incredibly strong in the way he carries himself both on and off the court.
But as is often the case, the personal accolades are a side note for Cotton, confirmation of what he already knew. His focus, his drive, and his real ambition is to continue to build his Wildcats dynasty out West.
“Even that year where we were last on the ladder, we ended up winning the championship, and I ended up having some pretty good individual success, but nothing topped having the team success and that was my first championship that I won as a professional, that added a little icing on the cake I guess you could say.”
