Round 2 is where NBL27 SuperCoach starts asking a different question.
Round 1 was about finding the right double-game players. Round 2 gives us four teams playing twice — Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra and Perth — and enough regular-season evidence to stop leaning on preseason projections.
That makes the captaincy call fairly clear at the top.
Bryce Cotton is our No. 1 captain for Round 2.
But there are legitimate alternatives, especially if you cannot get to the $473,900 Adelaide superstar without damaging the rest of your team.
If you are still working through trades, start with our Round 2 Trade Targets: Buy, Hold & Sell and check the latest Round 2 Injury Report. This article is about one decision only: who gets the armband?
NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2 captain rankings
| Rank | Player | Team | Round 1 SC | Round 2 games | Buckets call |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryce Cotton | Adelaide | 42 | @ Perth, v Cairns | CAPTAIN |
| 2 | Kristian Doolittle | Perth | 46 | v Adelaide, v New Zealand | ELITE ALTERNATIVE |
| 3 | William Hickey | Illawarra | 34 | @ Brisbane, @ Sydney | HIGH-FLOOR DOUBLE |
| 4 | Keanu Pinder | Cairns | 39 | v Tasmania, @ Adelaide | CEILING PLAY |
| 5 | Jo Lual-Acuil Jr | Perth | 36 | v Adelaide, v New Zealand | CENTRE ALTERNATIVE |
The important column is not Round 1 score. It is Round 2 games.
A premium single-game player needs an enormous performance to beat two solid games from a captain whose club doubles. We are not volunteering for that handicap.
1. Bryce Cotton — Adelaide 36ers
Verdict: CAPTAIN
Cotton opened NBL27 with 42 SuperCoach points against Melbourne from 29 real points and seven assists.
Now the schedule turns in his favour.
Adelaide plays Perth on Thursday and Cairns on Sunday. Better still, this is the beginning of three consecutive double-game rounds for the 36ers.
That combination — proven premium scoring, absolute role security and two games — is why we are not getting cute.
There is a price argument against trading Cotton in. There is not much of a captaincy argument against him once he is in your team.
At $473,900 he is supposed to be expensive. You are paying for the player who averaged 45.7 SuperCoach points last season and immediately posted 42 in his first game for Adelaide.
Buckets call: if you own Cotton, captain him. If you can reach him in one sensible trade, he is also our preferred Round 2 acquisition.
2. Kristian Doolittle — Perth Wildcats
Verdict: ELITE ALTERNATIVE
Doolittle produced the biggest Round 1 SuperCoach score among our five captain candidates: 46 points from 25 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
The stat that matters most is seven assists.
Perth remains without Brandon Knight this week, which leaves Doolittle carrying far more creation than we would normally expect from him. That is not necessarily a season-long role, but Round 2 only needs it to last two more games.
The Wildcats host Adelaide on Thursday and New Zealand on Saturday. No travel between games, two home fixtures and a temporary playmaking role make Doolittle the best Cotton alternative on our board.
There is volatility here. Perth was beaten comfortably by South East Melbourne and Doolittle finished minus-30 despite the fantasy haul. But SuperCoach does not care about plus-minus. Rebounds and assists are exactly the categories that give him a route to strong scoring even if the Wildcats offence remains messy.
Buckets call: if you do not own Cotton, Doolittle is a completely defensible captain rather than a desperation pivot.
3. William Hickey — Illawarra Hawks
Verdict: HIGH-FLOOR DOUBLE
Hickey's Round 1 line was almost annoyingly fantasy-friendly: 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists, good for 34 SuperCoach points.
One more rebound and the double-double bonus would have pushed it higher.
That is why Hickey remains such an attractive SuperCoach player. He does not need 25 real points to get there. Rebounds and assists create multiple scoring paths, and Illawarra now begins the ridiculous fixture run we flagged before the season.
The Hawks double in Rounds 2, 3 and 4, and seven times across the first 10 rounds. In Round 2 they travel to Brisbane on Friday and Sydney on Sunday.
The crowded Illawarra backcourt still keeps Hickey below Cotton and Doolittle for us. Milton Doyle and Tyler Harvey both require touches. But Hickey's ability to accumulate stats without monopolising shots makes that less frightening than it would be for a pure scorer.
Buckets call: excellent captain if your structure already owns him. We would not make an awkward trade purely to captain him over Cotton.
4. Keanu Pinder — Cairns Taipans
Verdict: CEILING PLAY
Pinder was Cairns' clear Round 1 fantasy winner.
Against Sydney he scored 39 SuperCoach points from 27 real points. That came in a 21-point loss and on a night where Cairns' offence was hardly humming.
Now he gets Tasmania at home on Wednesday before travelling to Adelaide on Sunday.
The appeal is obvious: Pinder can score, rebound and generate defensive stats, and Cairns needs his production. The concern is that his Round 1 SuperCoach score leaned heavily on the 27 real points rather than a monster all-category line.
That gives him a slightly shakier floor than Hickey if the shooting cools.
Still, two games from a $300,000 forward who has already shown a 39-point ceiling is captaincy material.
Buckets call: aggressive but sensible. Pinder is our favourite captain if your team structure cannot accommodate the two more expensive options and you want to attack Cairns' double.
5. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr — Perth Wildcats
Verdict: CENTRE ALTERNATIVE
JLA opened with 36 SuperCoach points from 20 points and eight rebounds against South East Melbourne.
The double-game setup is strong: Adelaide and New Zealand, both at RAC Arena.
His appeal is different from Doolittle's. Lual-Acuil can get to a captain-worthy total through scoring, rebounds, blocks and the double-double bonus. A centre who reaches double figures on the glass can build points quickly without needing guard-level usage.
We still prefer Doolittle from Perth because Knight's absence directly strengthens Doolittle's current creation role. JLA also needs to be treated with a little more caution after a heavy opening workload.
Buckets call: a strong fallback, but not the Perth player we would choose first for the armband.
What about Jack McVeigh?
McVeigh is still a Round 2 trade target, but not one of our preferred captains after Round 1.
He scored seven points against Sydney and did not produce the premium fantasy evidence we wanted before a double.
That does not mean sell or avoid. Cairns still has two games, and McVeigh's role and talent have not disappeared in four quarters of basketball.
It does mean we should distinguish between buying a player for a two-game opportunity and trusting him with double captain points.
Pinder has earned that trust first.
Why we are not captaining PJC this week
Parker Jackson-Cartwright was magnificent in Round 1.
He posted 59 SuperCoach points in New Zealand's opener and then backed it up with another strong performance against Brisbane. If this were a ranking of the best fantasy players right now, he would be near the top.
But New Zealand plays once in Round 2.
Cotton, Doolittle, Hickey and Pinder play twice.
Captaincy multiplies your score, which makes deliberately giving away a game extremely difficult to justify. PJC can absolutely outscore an individual game from any player on this list. Asking him to outscore their two-game total is a different bet.
Buckets call: PJC remains elite. The fixture says no captaincy this week.
The simple Round 2 captain rule
Do not overcomplicate the first big fixture swing of the season.
If you own Cotton, captain Cotton.
If you do not, Doolittle is our favourite alternative.
If your existing structure has Hickey or Pinder, both are good enough to wear the armband without forcing a bad trade.
And if your captain plays once while one of those four is sitting in your team playing twice, you are making life unnecessarily hard.
NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2 captains FAQ
Who is the best captain for NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2?
Bryce Cotton. He scored 42 SuperCoach points in Round 1 and Adelaide now plays twice against Perth and Cairns. His role and scoring history give him the strongest combination of floor, ceiling and fixture.
Who is the best captain if I do not own Bryce Cotton?
Kristian Doolittle is our No. 2. He scored 46 in Round 1 and Brandon Knight's absence leaves him with extra playmaking responsibility across Perth's two home games.
Is William Hickey a good Round 2 captain?
Yes. Hickey scored 34 in Round 1 despite missing the double-double bonus by one rebound, and Illawarra plays Brisbane and Sydney. His multi-category game gives him a strong two-game floor.
Should I captain Keanu Pinder or Jack McVeigh?
Pinder. He produced 39 SuperCoach points against Sydney while McVeigh had a quiet opener. Both get Cairns' Round 2 double, but Pinder has supplied the stronger regular-season fantasy evidence.
Should I captain Parker Jackson-Cartwright again?
Not for us. PJC remains an elite SuperCoach player, but New Zealand only plays once in Round 2. We prefer a premium captain from Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra or Perth because each plays twice.
Which teams play twice in NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2?
Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra and Perth. For the full early-season schedule, use our NBL27 SuperCoach Fixture Guide.
Final Buckets call
1. Bryce Cotton 2. Kristian Doolittle 3. William Hickey 4. Keanu Pinder 5. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr
Round 2 does not need a contrarian captain for the sake of being clever.
Cotton is the premium player, has the premium role and now has the double-game fixture we were waiting for.
Give him the armband and spend your difficult decisions elsewhere.
Buckets is an independent fantasy basketball platform and is not affiliated with SuperCoach or the National Basketball League. SuperCoach is referenced for analysis and scoring comparison.
Comments