JP Tokoto
- Thread starter babe7671
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I love Tokoto. He has been one of my favorite Tar Heels from day one, and I think next season will be a breakout year for him.
As for his mid-range jumper, it seems about 95 percent of his misses clank off the front of the rim. That is, quite frankly, some amazing consistency. If he can correct this problem with his depth perception he could be the team's leading scorer next season.
As for his mid-range jumper, it seems about 95 percent of his misses clank off the front of the rim. That is, quite frankly, some amazing consistency. If he can correct this problem with his depth perception he could be the team's leading scorer next season.
I disagree with much of this. First and foremost is the idea that JP would be a 6th man. How many players in the 6th man role are poor offensive players? The whole idea of a 6th man is that you're bringing instant offense off the bench. It would be weird to bring a defender/slasher/passer off the bench in a 6th man role. That's just weird to me.
JP is a legit defender. Yes, he got eaten up sometimes. But so did every player on our team. At least JP was eaten up by the other team's best player. Some of our guys failed against marginal players on opposing teams. JP was given the toughest assignment pretty much every game. And more times than not, he succeeded. You mention "numbers" proving that he's a poor defender. I'd like to see those numbers. What numbers would you be referencing?
His shooting is not great. But it's not terrible. His biggest problem IMO is knowing when to shoot. When he's open at the top of the key, he needs to shoot it. An open 3 is a better shot than a contested 15' fadeaway. I think that can be coached. I also have hope for him to become a better shooter. His FT percentage improved from Soph to Junior years. Why couldn't his jumpshot?
Regarding his stride and how he gets up and down the court, I'm not going to lie...there's something weird about it. It looks like he too often jumps off the wrong foot or that his legs aren't underneath him when he jumps. It's odd for sure. Not sure this is a correctable issue. Some of y'all are bemoaning his ball-handling but where would we be without it? Y'all are underselling his abilities. His turnovers throughout the year came on ill-advised passes; not on ball-handling mistakes. I do agree that many of his turnovers were a result on the coaching he's gotten in that he sometimes seemed like he didn't know what to do with the ball. Some of y'all are attributing this to him just dribbling around aimlessly. But I put that on Roy not instructing him properly.
But the bottom line for me is that JP offers far more in the plus than he does in the minus. I don't know his rebounding numbers on the season, but I'd like someone to do some serious number crunching and tell me when most of those rebounds came. To me, JP seemed to have knack for getting big rebounds - at important times in the games. And the way he gets some of those rebounds are almost like dunks - in that they are demoralizing for the opponent. They're momentum changers. His hands are super active and his steals are often momentum changers as well.
I kind of like the idea of going small as another poster suggested with JP at the 4. Because I am now a believer in Berry. I believe that Berry has to be a starter next year. But I just can't see taking JP off the floor. To me he brings too much. His ball handling is needed.
How many times have we seen a player who had issues and weaknesses settle into a role in his senior year and become exactly what the team needs? With just a little improvement in a couple of areas, slightly better awareness, and the coach making more use of lineups that are better suited to the (hopefully finally healthy) personnel, Tokoto could absolutely be that guy. I could easily see him being the glue guy of a very successful team next year.
The numbers I was referring to were the numbers put up by players against him. Take our top 10-12 opponents from this year and look at the guy across from him on the stat sheet. Another poster broke it down above. I'm not saying he's a dog but he's not a defensive all American. I do agree that he's still one of our better defenders. As I shared in my post, I don't fault JP for his faults from a ball handler/passer perspective. He gave us minutes we needed despite how out of position that was for him. He deserves credit for that but I don't think we improve with him carrying that same role next year. I'd assume that Roy cuts Berry loose as a soph and lets him run the show. I do agree with you about his shot selection. His shot is generally terrible but I'd much prefer a wide open 3 than a contested 15 footer falling away that we saw a lot this year.
We may disagree on JP as a 6th man but it seems we do agree on the fact that his role must change next year to one that more closely suits his skill set if we want to take the next step towards a title. I really liked our small lineup with JP at the 4 and Brice at the 5. Bring fat fat off the bench if we want somebody to come in and get buckets.
Good discussion
We may disagree on JP as a 6th man but it seems we do agree on the fact that his role must change next year to one that more closely suits his skill set if we want to take the next step towards a title. I really liked our small lineup with JP at the 4 and Brice at the 5. Bring fat fat off the bench if we want somebody to come in and get buckets.
Good discussion
I really like the idea of the smaller lineup with JP at the 4 and Brice starting at the 5. Kennedy and and Isaiah can come off the bench and rotate with Brice amongst the 4/5 positions, JP can take some minutes at the 3 when JJ needs to come out and we'll go bigger with two of the 3 bigs in there.
This would help with the foul trouble I would think as well. Since Brice and Isaiah are foul-happy.
This would help with the foul trouble I would think as well. Since Brice and Isaiah are foul-happy.
Part of me wants to love the idea of JP playing the 4 for so many reasons. He has great leaping ability (obviously) and could block the shot of any opposing 4 he wanted. But then the other part of me worries about giving up even more offensive rebounds. From what I saw last year, JP can become prone to watching the ball after a shot instead of boxing his man out. He could often get away with it by out jumping the 2 or 3 he was guarding to come away with the board. A decent opposing 4, however, could have a field day on the boards with JP if he wasn't completely focused on every single play. I would need to see a bigger sample size of JP playing the 4 against someone bigger than a 6'5" Pat Connaughton to see how the teams rebounding looked. The toughest part of the year for me was watching this UNC team give up so many offensive rebounds as they watched the ball go up and didn't box out. Gotta find a body and block out every single possession!
Hi, guys. UGA fan here. Now, UGA fans have the reputation of being primarily football fans, but I love hoops. I've watched, played and coached hoops since I was a kid and always enjoyed watching Tar Heel hoops under Dean Smith. I still watch a lot of hoops, though I no longer coach, and I still watch a ton of UNC basketball. Indeed, I am friends with one of your posters and watch many, many games with him.
All that is to say I have watched Tokoto all year, like many of you have. I am struck by his athletic ability. But, to be honest, great leapers are a dime a dozen. (UGA had one a few years ago named Travis Leslie. By his junior year, TL had a decent jump shot and could dunk out of his mind. You may recall that he jumped and dunked over a UK center a few years back. He's been stuck in the developmental league for several years now.) I want to watch a great player. Tokoto is not a great player.
To me, his biggest problem offensively is that he tries to force the action. He does not let the game come to him. He is willing to pass the ball (always a good attribute), but he takes bad angles and tries risky passes too often when the simple pass would do. He has no jumper and is a real adventure at the FT line, but that jumper could come around with some work. He has some bad habits that he needs to be drilled out of. One thing is clear, I think - Tokoto is not a guard per se. He needs to do his damage in the paint. Roy seems to be trying to fit a round peg in a square hole by playing Tokoto at guard so often. I realize UNC was limited this year with its roster and did not have enough guards, particularly at the SG position. We at UGA have had a problem with our roster as well - we only had 4 scholarship guards all year and 3 of them went down to injury or illness at various times during the season. And we really had no serviceable 3 man on our roster at all. Roster limitations force coaches to do things they would not normally prefer to do. Such was likely the case with Roy.
Tokoto also struggles on defense quite often. Granted, he is usually assigned your opponent's best perimeter offensive player, so that may skew his numbers. That, of course, is Roy's decision. But Tokoto doesn't move laterally very well on defense, it seems to me, and tends to fall asleep. He loses his man repeatedly. Dekker just took him to school over and over. Guarded by Tokoto, Dekker looked like the second coming of John Havlicek. So, as athletic as he is, Tokoto is not a great MTM defender.
If Roy can correct the roster imbalances, I think Tokoto would be better coming off the bench as a garbage player around the hoop. Insert Berry into the starting line-up with Paige and have Jackson at the 3, with Johnson and Meeks. That just one man's opinion.
All that is to say I have watched Tokoto all year, like many of you have. I am struck by his athletic ability. But, to be honest, great leapers are a dime a dozen. (UGA had one a few years ago named Travis Leslie. By his junior year, TL had a decent jump shot and could dunk out of his mind. You may recall that he jumped and dunked over a UK center a few years back. He's been stuck in the developmental league for several years now.) I want to watch a great player. Tokoto is not a great player.
To me, his biggest problem offensively is that he tries to force the action. He does not let the game come to him. He is willing to pass the ball (always a good attribute), but he takes bad angles and tries risky passes too often when the simple pass would do. He has no jumper and is a real adventure at the FT line, but that jumper could come around with some work. He has some bad habits that he needs to be drilled out of. One thing is clear, I think - Tokoto is not a guard per se. He needs to do his damage in the paint. Roy seems to be trying to fit a round peg in a square hole by playing Tokoto at guard so often. I realize UNC was limited this year with its roster and did not have enough guards, particularly at the SG position. We at UGA have had a problem with our roster as well - we only had 4 scholarship guards all year and 3 of them went down to injury or illness at various times during the season. And we really had no serviceable 3 man on our roster at all. Roster limitations force coaches to do things they would not normally prefer to do. Such was likely the case with Roy.
Tokoto also struggles on defense quite often. Granted, he is usually assigned your opponent's best perimeter offensive player, so that may skew his numbers. That, of course, is Roy's decision. But Tokoto doesn't move laterally very well on defense, it seems to me, and tends to fall asleep. He loses his man repeatedly. Dekker just took him to school over and over. Guarded by Tokoto, Dekker looked like the second coming of John Havlicek. So, as athletic as he is, Tokoto is not a great MTM defender.
If Roy can correct the roster imbalances, I think Tokoto would be better coming off the bench as a garbage player around the hoop. Insert Berry into the starting line-up with Paige and have Jackson at the 3, with Johnson and Meeks. That just one man's opinion.
