RealGM

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/234086/Spurs-Reach-Two-Year-Deal-With-Bryce-Cotton

Undrafted free-agent guard Bryce Cotton of Providence has reached agreement on a partially guaranteed two-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs, league sources told RealGM.

The deal is expected to be formally signed on Wednesday, and the agreement calls for the second season to become guaranteed should Cotton make the roster out of training camp, sources said. Cotton will also play for the Spurs in summer league.

Despite multiple draft offers in which an organization would stash him overseas, Cotton rejected the opportunities and fielded NBA interest that came down to the Spurs and Dallas Mavericks.

Cotton, a gritty, accurate outside shooter, averaged 21.8 points and 5.8 assists in 39.9 minutes per game in his senior season at Providence.

Really like this kid, he's a very similar player to Patty and he'll be a solid 3rd stringer for us.

His DX profile:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Bryce-Cotton-17832/

Smart pick up. Carried Providence team as much as any player I've seen carry a team recently. Good shooter and clutch, especially since he was focus of defenses and had to play an unbelievable amount of mintes. Small, so defense may be an issue. Nice writeup from tarheelsblog about his final game loss in San Antonio.

"For much of the game there wasn't a lot fault to be found with how North Carolina was playing. UNC was doing the things they needed to do. The tempo was where UNC wanted it. Roy Williams was freely substituting looking for an edge given Providence only uses six players. UNC controlled the boards and the offense, despite facing a zone, was good enough. The problem? UNC had no answer for Bryce Cotton.

The senior guard for Providence was pretty much as advertised. He was practically unstoppable with UNC trying Marcus Paige and Nate Britt on him as well as using the 1-3-1 and 3-2 zones. The former were wholly ineffective and the latter did slow Cotton down some but in the end, there was little the Tar Heels could to stop him. For UNC, it was shades of Harold Arcenaux, the one man wrecking crew from Weber State that sent the Heels home in a first round loss back in 1999. Cotton finished with 36 points and seemingly hit anything and everything he threw towards the basket.''

You guys are going to love this kid. Complete and utter class act. The Spurs are the perfect organization for him. I have seen it listed that he has average athleticism. This could not be further from the truth. He set vertical jump records at multiple teams workouts including 46" for the Kings. He just is very smooth so he makes it all look easy. You won't find a harder worker. One of my all time favorite Friars.

I know we can carry 20 guys on the roster going into training camp, so I'm not surprised that we'd get over 15. This guy seems legit. Another Spurs type move. He has roughly the same body as Allen Iverson and a similar skill set. His big problem in the league will be creating shots at his size (AI was all time great for his size at creating shots which obviously is the difference in their games). Fortunately for Bryce, the Spurs system is going to get him more open shots than Iverson ever had at his disposal.

I'm not saying he is the next coming of AI, but the kid can flat out ball.

Senior season mix

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE3jHXs1fWg[/youtube]

Longtime Friar fan here - so happy for Bryce to end up with an org like the Spurs. I think he can be a fantastic player for you guys off the bench. A bit of a background on him:

1) Was completely underrecruited in HS - almost went to JuCo because he had no D-1 offers. PC signed him last-second and only because he beat Jahii Carson in a dunk contest in his home state (Arizona)

2) His first two years at the school he was basically just a catch and shoot guy off the bench, but he improved his game each offseason. As a junior, he played off the ball and was a really efficient scorer. As a spot-up shooter he can be lethal. Handle was mediocre but good enough for a college SG. Our PG was hurt at times so he was forced to masquerade as one for a while as a junior.

3) As a senior, our McD AA PG went down for the year in game #5 or so, leaving us with no backup but Cotton. He completely blew us all away in terms of PG skills compared to the prior year. He's a real master of the P&R - splits the screens, can shoot over guys who go under, and can finish at the rim with either hand. Has a nice floater too. He's not a flashy passer at all, but his turnover rate was incredibly low given he was the lone ballhandler/playmaker for PC.

4) He's an underrated athlete. Not long at all but good lateral quickness and excellent leaping ability to help him finish at the rim (has a 40"+ vertical). He's also a complete ironman - never misses games and averaged over 40 MPG during conference play.

5) Defense and rebounding will be his big bugaboos in the NBA. He has the quicks to be okay against smaller PGs but will get beat up by the Russell Westbrooks of the world. And while he'll fight for rebounds, his length and strength just limits him there.

Overall, every PC fan absolutely loves this guy. He's probably the most beloved player since Billy Donovan or at worst Eric Murdock. Huge stones (nickname was "Ice" Cotton, as in he had ice in his veins) and just a likable kid. He'll bust his a$$ for you because that's what he's always done. He's also fairly young for a senior at 21 - he didn't re-class 2-3 times like some of these kids do nowadays in high school.

I really doubt he makes the team.

co_laper wrote:I really doubt he makes the team.

Story of this kids life. That's why he and every fan of his expects he will.

Not sure if this guys is reliable, but he says the Spurs haven't signed Cotton yet

Jabari Young @jabari_young
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Just got off the phone with a league source.. Bryce Cotton did not sign with the #Spurs .. team is interested, but nothing is official. #NBA
3:58 PM - 2 Jul 2014

franktony wrote:Not sure if this guys is reliable, but he says the Spurs haven't signed Cotton yet

Jabari Young @jabari_young
Follow
Just got off the phone with a league source.. Bryce Cotton did not sign with the #Spurs .. team is interested, but nothing is official. #NBA
3:58 PM - 2 Jul 2014

Jabari's a fairly reliable source he writes for Spurs Nation.

Nolan wrote:

franktony wrote:Not sure if this guys is reliable, but he says the Spurs haven't signed Cotton yet

Jabari Young @jabari_young
Follow
Just got off the phone with a league source.. Bryce Cotton did not sign with the #Spurs .. team is interested, but nothing is official. #NBA
3:58 PM - 2 Jul 2014

Jabari's a fairly reliable source he writes for Spurs Nation.

Thanks

That opens another roster spot then !

My feeling is that Cotton would be a good Toro bound.

Sign him, he becomes part of the 20-man roster going to the training camp, he is cut and becomes a Toro. That was my first thought when I heard he was signed. But he could definitely fight for a roster spot if the plays well in the SL (a la Neal)

franktony wrote:
Thanks

That opens another roster spot then !

My feeling is that Cotton would be a good Toro bound.

Sign him, he becomes part of the 20-man roster going to the training camp, he is cut and becomes a Toro. That was my first thought when I heard he was signed. But he could definitely fight for a roster spot if the plays well in the SL (a la Neal)

Jabari's reliable but I think if it's not a done deal yet it's only going to be a matter of time. Everyone else is reporting that he's signed so maybe it's just a case of pen not being put to paper yet.