Wildcats 'Aura' Tied to the Past - Mitchell

South East Melbourne head coach Simon Mitchell is refusing to buy into the concept of an ‘aura’ surrounding the Perth Wildcats, and has stated it isn’t the same team it used to be.

Traditionally built on a foundation of defence and toughness, the likes of Mike Ellis, Andrew Vlahov and Damian Martin helped see the organisation into 36 consecutive playoff series – a record that was snapped in NBL22.

With a new guard leading the way for Perth, Mitchell says his Play-In Qualifier opponents have a different identity than the successful teams of the past.

The Perth Wildcats snuck into the NBL Finals at the expense of South East Melbourne's local rivals Melbourne United.

“This is a new era and I think they need to rebuild their own identity,” Mitchell said on SEN. “The identity of the old teams was built on their toughness, their defensive tenacity, their unbelievable ability on the boards and clearly the teams of the last few years have been built a little differently.

“That aura is built on that toughness and built on the Damian Martins, the Shawn Redhages, and those guys in the uniform as much as the uniform itself. We’re definitely in a different era and I certainly don’t think there’s an aura.”

“Certainly Bryce carries one with him – I don’t think there’s a coach in the NBL that sits back and goes ‘I’m happy to be playing Perth because we’ve got Bryce this week’.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the intimidation of old but it’s still a highly respected team, and any team with Bryce Cotton is going to be a tough team to beat.”

The Sydney Kings found out just how dangerous the Perth Wildcats can be even when Cotton has a poor game.

The MVP nominee and six-time scoring champion struggled from the field against the Kings. He scored just seven points on 1-19 shooting as his team battled to a 12-point win.

With three NBL championships, two Grand Final MVP awards and three regular season MVP awards, Cotton is a player that thrives on the big moments – and Mitchell isn’t expecting a repeat performance of Sunday night.

“He’s just never put a game like that together that I can recall. The proud player he is there’s no doubt he’s going to do his best to bounce back … it doesn’t bode well,” Mitchell said.

“They’re more than just Bryce [though]. We’ve played against Perth before and he’s absolutely whipped us and we’ve still come out victors. It’s going to be who else we can key in on and what areas of the game we can take advantage in.

“Obviously we’ll put plenty of time into Bryce, but sometimes at the end of the day he decides whether the ball goes in or not, not you defence. He’s just so talented.

Cotton and Phoenix forward Mitch Creek will go head-to-head in a different kind of arena on Tuesday night, as both aim to win the Andrew Gaze MVP award."

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The pair, who have been nominated for the honour alongside Sydney’s Xavier Cooks, have been two of the top performers in the NBL this season.

Mitchell says regardless of whether Creek takes home the award, he’s still proud of the impact the forward has on his club.

“There are some teams out there that seem to want to campaign for every trophy going around,” Mitchell said.

“Mitch has had a wonderful season, Bryce has had a wonderful season, Xavier Cooks has had a wonderful season. I think Milton Doyle has had a wonderful season down in Tassie as well. I think there’s lots of blokes who had had really high-level seasons.

“Our bias is heavily in favour of Mitch and I think he’s been underappreciated. He’s a wonderful player and I think he means so much more to our team than just the production on the floor.

“He’s been wonderful and I’d be very proud him if he gets the trophy. If he doesn’t, I’m very proud of the work he puts in and the effort he puts out every single night.”

Creek and the Phoenix host Cotton and the Wildcats in the first ever Play-In Qualifier on Thursday night at 6:30pm AEDT.