Tale of the Tape - Bryce Cotton's MVP season

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Although there were plenty of potential MVP winners, star guard Bryce Cotton deservedly took home his fourth crown.

After the NBL24 he had, it almost seemed inevitable that Bryce Cotton would be walking away with his fourth career NBL MVP award at Monday night’s Gazey awards.

The Wildcats superstar dominated the voting with 118 votes, and received more votes than second-placed Chris Goulding (53) and third-placed Parker Jackson-Cartwright (50) combined.

Cotton’s fourth MVP year was not all smooth sailing, but the star import’s regular season campaign all but personifies the term ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’.

The Wildcats embarked on a horror 2-5 run to open the season. An opening game win over the JackJumpers and a Round 2 win over Adelaide were the bright spots in a series of narrow defeats, and during that run Cotton averaged just 14 points on just 29 per cent shooting.

When he turned his form around, so did the Wildcats. The poor run to start the campaign was ended by an 11-point win over Adelaide in which Cotton top scored with 29 points. After the game he joked he didn’t know who had stolen his jersey for the opening stanza of the season – but he was well and truly back.

Cotton inspired Perth to an incredible six-game winning run, and between rounds six and 16 they cantered to 13 wins from 15 games. Only three of those victories came by five points or fewer, and four came by over 15 points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The king of the jungle ?<br><br>Bryce Cotton's fourth MVP is now the second-most of anyone in NBL history ? <a href="https://t.co/9vGhm2DEos">pic.twitter.com/9vGhm2DEos</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1759529198463734028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That run included the type of usually career-defining performances fans have come to expect from Cotton.

He had 37 points in a big win over New Zealand, 28 in a one-point nail-biter against Tasmania, and 25 in back-to-back single digit wins over Cairns and Brisbane.

Cotton wasn’t only scoring the ball though. Those 28 points in Round 11 against the JackJumpers included eight rebounds (four offensive), four assists and a pair of steals, and he dropped seven assists in games against both Illawarra and Sydney.

The coup de gras of this campaign though is undoubtedly his incredible 41 points and seven assists against the Wildcats’ hated rivals, Sydney.

Cotton was irresistible in the Round 9 against the back-to-back reigning champions. He played all 40 minutes of the clash, and Perth surged away in the final term to eventually win by nine points.

While Perth has rounded out its season with four losses from its final six games, nobody is sleeping on the most successful team in NBL history come finals time.

Yes, the likes of Keanu Pinder, Jordan Usher and Kristian Doolittle played huge roles alongside Cotton throughout the campaign, but NBL24 was his season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">King Cotton ?<br><br>Make that four MVP's for the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> superstar ? <a href="https://t.co/ONrdQq9DsD">pic.twitter.com/ONrdQq9DsD</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1759532996510777429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The fans also agreed. Along with his fourth career MVP win and seventh All-NBL First Team selection, he was named the Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP for the third time.

His trophy-laden night means he not only moved above Leroy Loggins and into outright second in the all-time MVP awards count with four, but he’s also moved clear of Jerome Randle and Kai Sotto to stand alone with the most all-time NBL Fans MVP awards won with three.

He has once again laid any doubts around his form or ability in a rapidly improving league. The cream always rises to the top and once again – and deservedly so – Bryce Cotton is the cream of the crop.

Past MVP-winners:
2024 - Bryce Cotton
2023 - Xavier Cooks
2022 - Jaylen Adams
2021 - Bryce Cotton
2020 - Bryce Cotton

Multiple MVP-winners:
Andrew Gaze - 7
Bryce Cotton - 4
Leroy Loggins - 3
Chris Anstey, Kevin Lisch, Robert Rose, Scott Fisher - 2