Bryce Cotton

Bryce Jiron Cotton (born August 11, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). He played college basketball for the Providence Friars.

High school career

Cotton attended Palo Verde High School in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. In his senior season, Cotton averaged 23.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in a season where his team went 24-7 and made it to the state 4A semi-finals. For his performances, Cotton earned first team All-City and first team All-State honors in 2010. Despite his solid senior season and high-school career, Cotton was not evaluated by ESPN, Rivals, or Scout.

College career

On September 2, 2010, it was announced that Cotton had been recruited to the Providence Friars.^[1] Cotton played in 32 games his freshman season, including one start, and averaged only 4 points. The following season, Cotton was named a starter, saw his minutes more than double and his points per game improve to 14.3. In his junior season, Cotton was the Big East's leading scorer, averaging 19.4 points per game. For his efforts, Cotton was named first team All-Big East.^[2]

Before his senior season Cotton was named preseason All-Big East by the conference's coaches.^[3] It was announced on January 20 that Cotton was named Big East Player of the Week after averaging 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists in two wins over St. John's and Creighton.^[4] On February 13, Cotton was part of the Naismith Player of the Year trophy mid-season watch.^[5] The Friars finished the season at 20-11 with a 10-8 conference mark which resulted in a 4 seed in the 2014 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament. The Friars would go on to win the title, their first since 1994, with Cotton averaging 17.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 5 assists en route to the tournament's MVP award. This resulted in the Friars receiving an auto-bid to the national tournament, the first and only tournament appearance in Cotton's career. Despite putting up 36 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists, Cotton and the Friars lost their first round match-up against the North Carolina Tar Heels 77-79, ending Cotton's college career.

Professional career

2014–15 season

Cotton went undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft. On July 7, 2014, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs and joined them for the 2014 NBA Summer League.^[6][7] On October 23, 2014, he was waived by the Spurs,^[8] and on November 1, 2014, he was acquired by the Austin Spurs as an affiliate player.^[9] On November 14, he made his professional debut in a 121–120 loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, recording 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and one block in 35 minutes.^[10] On February 4, 2015, he was named to the Futures All-Star team for the 2015 NBA D-League All-Star Game.^[11]

On February 24, 2015, Cotton signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz.^[12] Three days later, he made his debut for the Jazz in a 104–82 win over the Denver Nuggets, recording three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in seven minutes off the bench.^[13] On March 6, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Jazz.^[14] On March 16, he signed a multi-year deal with the Jazz.^[15] In 15 games for the Jazz, he averaged 5.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 10.6 minutes.^[16]

2015–16 season

On October 20, 2015, Cotton was waived by the Jazz^[17] and ten days later, he was reacquired by the Austin Spurs.^[18] On November 13, he made his season debut in a 104–82 win over the Texas Legends, recording 22 points, four rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes.^[19]

On November 25, 2016, Cotton signed with the Phoenix Suns.^[20] Cotton failed to appear in a game for the Suns until December 30, making his first appearance for the team following injuries to Eric Bledsoe and Ronnie Price. In 21 minutes of action in his Suns' debut, he recorded two points, two rebounds and three steals in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs.^[21] On January 7, 2016, he was waived by the Suns after appearing in three games.^[22]

On January 12, 2016, Cotton returned to the Austin Spurs.^[23] After appearing in two more games, he parted ways with Austin on January 25.^[24]

On January 27, 2016, Cotton signed with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.^[25] In nine games for Xinjiang, he averaged 21.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

On April 1, 2016, Cotton signed to a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies to help the team deal with numerous injuries. that made him the 28th player to be on the Grizzlies in the 2015-2016 season. Memphis had to use an NBA hardship exemption in order to sign him as he made their roster stand at 17, two over the allowed limited of 15.^[26] On April 3, he made his debut for the Grizzlies in a 119–107 loss to the Orlando Magic, recording two points in one minute off the bench.^[27] On April 11, he signed with the Grizzlies for the rest of the 2015–16 regular season pursuant to the NBA's hardship roster rules to make the roster stand at 16 players.^[28] He appeared in five games for the Grizzlies, parting ways with the team prior to the start of the playoffs.

2016–17 season

On August 27, 2016, Cotton signed with Turkish club Anadolu Efes for the 2016–17 season.^[29]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com
• FIBA profile
• Providence bio