Providence College alum Bryce Cotton has chosen to re-sign with the Perth Wildcats for the upcoming basketball season. After participating with the Atlanta Hawks Summer League squad this year in Las Vegas, Cotton decided to re-join the Wildcats, spurning an offer from Spain in the process. Cotton had previously played short stints with the Memphis Grizzlies, Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns.
Cotton was actually signed while still playing with the Hawks Summer League team. The uncertainty of signing an NBA contract playing a factor in his decision to sign back to the familiar confines of Perth, Australia. Cotton also turned down a 10-day contract with the Hawks at the end of last season when he initially joined the Wildcats, igniting their run to a Championship.
Bryce, still just 24 years old, joined a Perth team that was at the bottom of the standings, and in the last 11 regular season games with the team, led them to finish out the season with a 12-4 record, including the playoffs. Cotton averaged 22.1 points per game over that 16 game span. The Wildcats went undefeated in the playoffs en route to the Championship and the Grand Final MVP Honors for Cotton, who dominated with a 45-point performance in the deciding game of the Championship series.
Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson spoke very highly of Bryce on his retention with the team.
“He has a very special skill set and has the unique ability to make his teammates better. He’s an incredible scorer, has a team-first mentality, is unselfish, but most of all he’s a great person and a great fit for our team.”
Now, if that doesn’t sound like exactly what Ed Cooley would say about Bryce, I don’t know what does. Good thing the Hawks snatched up Josh Magette to a contract before the Summer League even started. Who the shit is Josh Magette you might ask? Just some 27 year old dude who averaged 12.6 ppg in the D-League over parts of three seasons. I mean, you just HAVE to snatch a guy like that up before someone else does, AmIRight?
This will be the first time that Cotton has returned to the play for the same team in two consecutive years since turning pro. Cotton had this to say about his choice to return to the defending champion Wildcats.
“Weighing everything up and going into my fourth year (as a pro), sometimes you want to be careful about going into training camp if there’s not anything guaranteed because you don’t want to pass up contracts you can have overseas. You can’t play basketball forever and at some point, you have to make smart decisions versus risky depending on how early or late you are in your career.”
The best of luck to Ice as he embarks on a new season down under…from what I hear, Perth has some awesome fans, and they got a good one in Bryce.
The Morning Hangover 
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