Pursuit of Greatness Driving Cotton

If Bryce Cotton wasto never play another game in the NBL, he would still go down in the conversation as one of the all-time great players to grace our competition.

Three MVP awards, three championships, five scoring titles, five All-NBL First Team selections, two Grand Final MVP awards. The accolades Cotton has earned in his five-and-a-half seasons in the competition measure up to any player to have played the game.

As his career with the Wildcats has progressed, the conversations surrounding Cotton have progressed also. What once started as a discussion around whether he’s the greatest ever import has now moved to the discussion of if he’s the greatest ever player.

Speaking on The Huddle, Cotton says it’s these types of discussions that drive him to wring every ounce of potential out of his career.

“It’s not often anybody in any sport gets to be in the conversation of being the greatest anything, so if you’re in that conversation I feel like you owe it to yourself as well as the people who supported you over the years to see how far that can go,” he said.

“It doesn’t really matter when your career is done, but when you’re in the moment maybe that extra juice pushes you to make your career whatever it’s going to be.

“At the end of the day you leave the rankings up to the people, but it’s definitely a motivating factor for sure.”

Such is Cotton’s greatness in the NBL that he can often be taken for granted.

Even Perth’s most recent game – their overtime loss to Brisbane – can be taken as the perfect example.

Cotton played a remarkable 43 minutes of game time and almost dragged his side over the line with a 30-point performance, but that type of effort has become the rule, rather than the exception when Cotton is involved.

“If you get caught up in the hype too much that’s when I feel like it starts to get to you,” Cotton said.

“I still try to block out the noise too because I feel I have to keep looking myself in the mirror to make sure I’m playing the game to the best of my abilities.

“I do feel sometimes I can just be taken for granted, or what happens is kind of unappreciated, so I don’t focus on that too much.”

Cotton and the Perth Wildcats will look to bounce back when they take on Illawarra on Saturday night. Tip off is at 5.30pm, with the game live on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.