Definitely possible.

In a recent June article he said "I feel at home" when asked about signing a 3 year deal with Perth.

Lisch is on his way out so the naturalised spot is certainly going to be open;

Not sure how long you have to be here to be naturalized but I think he's probably still a few seasons away. Having said that, if he were, he'd be a shoe in for all the B grade Boomers teams that play in the Asia games. His ability to nab an Olympic or World Cup spot would depend on the performance of Delly and the availability of other guards. But I'd definitely want to give the guy a shot.

2023/24 Cotton would be eligible (if he naturalises)by then and will be 31/32.
A lot will depend on form and how his body holds up.

Other things to consider such as will Mills (35) still be playing and if so would the Boomers need two undersized shooting guards.
Josh Green should be in the mix by then and is probably the shooting guard of the future

Andray Blatche basically became a Filipino resident who qualified for their national team before even playing there because the Phillipine senate made it happen. Couldn't Dutton do an au pair special and rush Donovan Mitchell's paper's through?

I think that's because our naturalised players never got the chance. I remember when games where Grace and Redhage played bugger all minutes, but their stats were fantastic. Fisher could have been another one too, but I can't remember.

Could we get him done in time for 2020?

It's funny, Hire was joking about getting him Naturalised in a recent interview

I think Grace deserved more minutes, but at the same time, that team finished 4th to a very good Lithuanian team.

Lisch is one that looked a little out of his depth in Rio too.

These days, as good as the talent in the NBL is, even the stars are only likely to be bit players at major championship level, if we're looking to be a chance to win medals.

Didn't Grace play under Smyth? Could be wrong too, I just remember Smyth being a coach who made our naturalised import redundant.

Nah Grace played in the 2000 Olympic team under Barnes behind Heal and Gaze.

When Smyth took over after that, virtually everybody retired, and we lost the 2001 Oceania series against NZ with DMac and Maher as our only guards (not even joking, we only had 2 guards in a 10 man team). In the end guys like Egan and Nash spent time at the 2, and Maher/Dmac alternated at PG.

And that was the end of Smyth.

Cheers Cram. Coach list below.

Australia Lindsay Gaze - 1972–1984, 1994
Australia Dr. Adrian Hurley – 1985–1993
Australia Barry Barnes – 1995–2000
Australia Phil Smyth – 2001
United States Brian Goorjian – 2001–2008
United States Brett Brown – 2009–2012
Australia Andrej Lemanis – 2013–present

I'm trying to remember how bad that 2001 team was.

Sure it got hurt by the retirements of all of our top line guys (Heal, Gaze, Vlahov, Bradtke, Longley, Grace all retired from international ball) but it was still poor.

Dmac / Maher
Nash / Egan
McGregor
Derek Moore
Axel Dench

Anyone else remember who was on that team? From memory they played the "Goodwill games" with 12 and then the Oceania quals with 10.

I think at least one of Rillie and James Harvey was available but not selected.

Really was one of the worst moments of Aussie basketball.

Dmac / Maher
Nash / Egan
McGregor
Derek Moore
Axel Dench

Anyone else remember who was on that team?

Was Schenscher part of the Boomers in 2001?

I think the Boomers need to keep developing contingency plans and blooding new players. Most of our main guys won't be there by 2024. This is the strongest the Boomers have ever been but a changing of the guard is only just over the horizon. Bryce Cotton should definitely be in the Boomers plans moving forward. You can never have too much talent to choose from.

As for Grace I remember distinctly the game against USA. He hit 8 straight points I think, turned the game around, got a steal, and then was rewarded with a seat on the bench so Shane Heal could continue struggling. Barry Barnes coaches us out of a medal that year.

Just to clear something up... Nash didn't get picked to play in the Oceania series. He played for that squad, but in the Goodwill Games, & has some good stories about playing against a young Shawn Marion & Baron Davis :)

IMHO Grace would have distributed the ball way better than Heal & played better D. Longley & the bigs often had to cover for Gaze & Heal's defensive deficiencies. Barnes was a joke as coach... running the shuffle with Luc out in the feeder position was a waste of his natural ability.

From memory, naturalised Aussies don't do well with the Boomers... previous poster may be right... they're just too old by the time they qualify.

I get the sense that our immigration rules have tightened significantly since the good old days.

"Nielsen, Melmeth,... Saville too I think?"

Can't remember Nielsen on that team. Melmeth was. Pretty sure that Saville & Mackinnon were both out for that series.

History will repeat and Cadee will get minutes over Bryce just like Heal over Grace.

Not sure if it still does but if the old 4 year rule still applies this being Cotton's third season he would be eligible to naturalise after next season.

Can't remember Nielsen on that team. Melmeth was. Pretty sure that Saville & Mackinnon were both out for that series.

Luuuuc. That looks right. I remember Saville at times playing PG and Cal Bruton joking that CJ was just sitting at home watching. Madness.

Easy to see why we missed out on 2002 world cup that roster is an unfortunate reminder.

Losing established veterans like Gaze, Bradtke, Longley and Vlahov wasn't going to help.

Don't worry so much about getting the imports naturalised....get them breeding with our locals.

Simmons NBL import - boom we get Ben Simmons
Cecil Exum NBL import - boom we get Dante Exum
Kendall Pinder NBL import - boom we get 10 years jail term but also Keanu Pinder

The success of Australian basketball is not in naturalising the imports but their children being future Aussie born and bred stars!

"Don't worry so much about getting the imports naturalised....get them breeding with our locals."

The Betoota Advocate ran a story on an initiative called GrassROOTS along the lines of what you're describing... the article is here:

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/sports/nbl-grassroots-program-mostly-based-around-encouraging-american-players-to-have-kids-here/

One of Andre Moore's kids is doing pretty well at AFL & don't forget Jonah Bolden :)

CJ Bruton was the pilot program.

Pretty sure you have to spend most of you time in Oz. If you continue to go back to the States you wont be eligible. Is this applicable to Cotton? IDK.