Perth Wildcats General Manager Danny Mills is adamant the club would walk away from Bryce Cotton negotiations again if faced with the same scenario, as the 12-month anniversary of his bombshell signing with Adelaide approaches.
The Wildcats made one of the biggest contract calls in NBL history when they ended contract talks with Cotton in March last year because he wanted more time to consider his free agency options around the world.
Cotton then stunned the NBL community by signing with Adelaide nearly two months later. He went on to win his sixth NBL MVP award and took the shot that could have won the 36ers the championship. That shot missed, the game went to overtime and Sydney Kings won the title.
Perth received plenty of criticism for not doing more to retain Cotton. The Wildcats have been reluctant to discuss Cotton’s departure in depth. But nearly 12 months on, Mills was expansive about the decision.
When asked if he would do anything differently if he had his time again, Mills was emphatic with his response saying they had to turn their focus towards securing other stars who wanted to sign.
“We did what was best at that time, with the information we had, for the club. I truly believe that. And if that’s the case, no, we wouldn’t (do anything differently), because that’s the information we had at the time to make the decision,” Mills told The West Sports Show.
“In any world you do not want a player like Bryce Cotton to leave your club. He’s going to be our all-time best, one of our all-time best players in the league, is an amazing person, an elite player, competitor and good teammate. But he was coming into a free agency year, and we had to make the best decision at the time.
“The information we had was that we needed to re-sign priority players that we wanted to resign, including Kristian Doolittle and Dylan Windler. And at that time there was no indication that Bryce would come back to Perth. So at that time, we had to move forward with those decisions, and at that time and moving forward, that’s the right decision for the club, and I 100 per cent stand by that.”
“What we know is that we can sign Kristian Doolittle to a three-year contract knowing he’s coming into his prime and is going to be an elite player. And I would say, to the club’s credit, he’s a top three player in the league. That’s factual in the voting this year, and arguably, the best player in the league on both ends - the most impactful.
“And then keeping a player like Dylan Windler at the club for two more years, who we absolutely loved, and he wanted to be back. That was on the table and able to be signed. So we had to do that. You we would be regretting everything if we didn’t do that then, because that’s what we knew and that’s what was in front of us.”
Mills said the club had also been assessing their roster while knowing that Keanu Pinder was leaving to play overseas. He said the Wildcats couldn’t have afforded to pay a star Australian centre such as Jo Lual-Acuil if Cotton had stayed and then they’d given Doolittle and Windler pay rises.
Mills said the Wildcats were thrilled that Cotton became an Australian citizen after leaving the club, saying they couldn’t have done any more to have his four-year ban to get overturned. Mills described that ban and the fight to get Cotton naturalised as “an absolute debacle”.
Cotton signed a three-year contract with Adelaide and received a hero’s welcome when he returned to Perth for the first time. He could make his Australian debut when the Boomers play at RAC Arena in July.
Mills hopes Wildcats fans understand the club is doing everything possible to win another championship.
“It was very disappointing that we could no longer have Bryce in Perth. But that happens in every sport around the world - in most leagues like all the time,” Mills said.
“Obviously he’s a unique player to come through the NBL, let alone Perth. But I think when you look at it like I feel confident it’s worked out very well for us in our roster build and where we’re at, and it worked out well for Bryce.
“He had an amazing season in Adelaide, was MVP of the league and got to a championship series. They didn’t win it, but they had a great year.
“He seems really happy we’re super optimistic about where we’re at as a club. I think that decision, people can look at it all different ways, but we acted in the best interest of the club at with the with the information we had at the time.”
