Cotton: We are “one or two pieces away”

Six-time MVP Bryce Cotton will be the first to admit this season has been a ‘bitterssweet’ one for him.

During his first season with the Adelaide 36ers, he guided them to their second-best regular season record, while claiming his sixth MVP award.

The guard also helped the 36ers reach their first Championship Series since NBL18, before ultimately falling short to Sydney after five incredible games.

In that fifth and final game, with scores tied at 95-all, Cotton had had five seconds to make a play and win his fourth personal championship, but the shot rimmed out and the Kings went on to win the Qudos Bank Arena fixture.

Upon reflecting on the game, and final play of regulation, Cotton, while saying he has a “hollow feeling”, is at peace with how the game played out.

“The play was basically to get the ball and just try to make something happen, as five seconds is a lot of time,” Cotton said to SEN SA.

“I tried to get the best shot I could, and with a little bit more spin on the ball, I guess it goes in. But I live with that. I live with the things I do on the court, whether it's the outcome I wanted or not because I know the work that I put in.

“I don't sit here and replay the play over in my head over and over, and I'm at peace with how everything went down.

“We understand how close we were and if the ball goes the other way, we seal the whole thing but that happens. You got to take the crookeds with the straights.”

As such, Cotton is confident this is just the start of a successful era for the Sixers.

“We like to think that this is just the beginning and even better things are in store as long as we don't get complacent,” he said.

“We have so much chemistry with our team. Everybody pretty much gets along with each other, so it [the loss] just makes us hungrier to continue to put ourselves in these situations and come out with a different result next time.

“I feel like we'll be back and we'll have more opportunities for situations like this.

“[Big picture] we've helped to turn the city around, an organisation. We've breathed life back into a city from a basketball standpoint.

“There's a lot of great things that we did this year that I'm proud of us as a team. Even the image of how we conduct ourselves as an organisation, we've done a lot of things to put Adelaide back in a position where we want to be.”

Looking head, the 36ers' core is already in place for the 2026-27 season, with Cotton, Zylan Cheatham, Cameron, Isaac Humphries, Dejan Vasiljevic, Rakocevic, Isaac White, Ben Griscti and Michael Harris (club option) all contracted.

Coach Mike Wells, who Cotton has thrown his support behind, has also committed his future to the franchise.

In terms of what the team needs to add to get over the hump, Cotton has outlined the areas the club needs to address in the ucopming off-season.

“We're like one or two pieces away, probably somebody that's long, can defend and athletic,” he said.

“We’re bringing back pretty much 80 per cent of the team , so that's so huge for us, especially with all the big games we've now played in.

“The team morale, the team's mental fortitude and level of toughness [we will have] is going to be very rare, because it's going to be hard to play us in any game throughout the regular season.

“Having that bitter taste in your stomach and a familiarity with each other’s games [is big] and will help us build next year where we left off.”