The stars aligned: Cotton on his Adelaide move

Adelaide 36ers star recruit Bryce Cotton says he understands the attention around his NBL move, explaining he felt the opportunity to play under Mike Wells in Adelaide was the best thing for his family and his basketball.

Cotton has surprised many across the competition by signing with the 36ers after nine seasons with the Perth Wildcats.

The five-time NBL MVP won three championships and two Grand Final MVPs with Perth among a host of other accolades.

He’ll link up in Adelaide with Wells, who was an assistant coach at Utah, when Cotton had a stint there a decade ago.

Speaking from Puerto Rico where he is currently playing, Cotton told Adelaide 36ers Media he understands the questions around his decision to move.

“I mean everybody would love to know the answer to that,” he explained. “But honestly, it's very, very rare that you get to play anywhere professionally for the amount of time that I did for the same team so I'm grateful for that.

“I had a lot of memories in Perth, but sometimes, you know, the curtain closes and it's time for a new door to open.

“I feel like a great opportunity presented itself, and it was what I felt was best for me and my family. We're super, super ecstatic to be embracing this new journey.”

The signing moved quickly this week with 36ers General Manager of Basketball Matt Weston and Wells regularly in touch with Cotton and his representatives.

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Cotton said he was keen to reconnect with Wells and be part of the Adelaide 36ers family.

“I think it just kind of goes to show, the longer you play this game, the smaller the basketball world gets,” the 32-year-old smiled.

“Sometimes you kind of reconnect with people you met from the past and I think this was a pretty cool alignment of the stars.

“I always respected him as a coach and as a person, and being able to kind of see how he handled Adelaide from afar, even last season.

“You know, I think he helped do a tremendous job of bringing a winning culture and a winning mentality back, as well as the rest of the team that Adelaide had did last year.

“But it's exciting that now I get to be a part of that as well and try to help continue to push that narrative forward.”

The reigning league MVP was excited by Weston and Wells’ vision for the Adelaide club.

“(We spoke about) kind of turning the culture around, bringing winning back to this city,” Cotton said.

“It's a great challenge and as far as (my) role goes, we haven't talked too much in depth about it. You know, everything is still fresh.

“We're months away from any games being played, so there'll be a lot more conversations where we can talk in detail about that.

“I'm just excited to be a part of something new, but picking up where they left off. I think they left a great mark last season, showing the potential that they have and the heights that they can get to so I'm excited to be a part of that team, and hopefully the fans and everybody out there in Adelaide embraces me being a part of their family.”

Cotton will link up with his new 36ers teammates at the conclusion of his duties playing in Puerto Rico for Mets de Guaynabo.