Akok article from The Day

[Deleted at users request]

Are you serious? This guy has the talent to be a first rounder possibly lottery pick. If hes healthy and is able to do everything he was able to do pre injury he could be our best player by the time March roles around. He can attack the basket, shoot the 3, score in the post, rebound, defend and block shots. This kid is a big time talent.

Who would you say he starts over (seriously not sarcastically) our DPOY or emerging sophomore who’s our best low post presence? It’ll be a hard decision for Hurley to make because if Akok is back at 100%, I would want to get him as much time as possible too. Just hard to see sitting either of those guys.

 

[HuskyCLT]

Who would you say he starts over (seriously not sarcastically) our DPOY or emerging sophomore who’s our best low post presence? It’ll be a hard decision for Hurley to make because if Akok is back at 100%, I would want to get him as much time as possible too. Just hard to see sitting either of those guys.

I could see Akok playing together with either of those guys together on the court. A determining factor could be how well he can defend guys out to the perimeter… or if he’s together with Whaley which one of them stays low as they’re both great shot blockers.

But what he can do that Whaley and Sanogo can’t so far is stretch the floor with his 3pt shot. I think offensively that allows him to coexist with either guy.

 

[uconnfan68]

Whaley’s a decent shot blocker also.

Such a quick jumper, reminds of Emeka in that regard.

 

[navery12]

I could see Akok playing together with either of those guys together on the court. A determining factor could be how well he can defend guys out to the perimeter… or if he’s together with Whaley which one of them stays low as they’re both great shot blockers.

But what he can do that Whaley and Sanogo can’t so far is stretch the floor with his 3pt shot. I think offensively that allows him to coexist with either guy.

Akok is a shooting 26.5% from 3 for his career, Whaley is shooting 34.8%. Admittedly both are pretty small samples

 

[Deleted at users request]

I could see Akok playing together with either of those guys together on the court. A determining factor could be how well he can defend guys out to the perimeter… or if he’s together with Whaley which one of them stays low as they’re both great shot blockers.

But what he can do that Whaley and Sanogo can’t so far is stretch the floor with his 3pt shot. I think offensively that allows him to coexist with either guy.

I agree. I think Akok would be fine playing with either but it’d just be tough to determine who sits. Sanogo is one of our best offensive presences period, but Whaley just does more things for us. Like imagine Akok at 100% being somewhat of the pick and roll hedger Whaley is with both of them out there.

This team overall can be really exciting this upcoming year if guys just make that jump which is easier said than done.

 

[HuskyCLT]

Akok is a shooting 26.5% from 3 for his career, Whaley is shooting 34.8%. Admittedly both are pretty small samples.

True. His shooting and drive in the Xavier game is burned into my brain... may just have been my recency bias speaking. If he plays like that we have a much different situation than if he struggles offensively and shoots 26.5% from 3. Obviously hoping for his momentum to continue and make a huge leap offensively from his freshman year.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Who would you say he starts over (seriously not sarcastically) our DPOY or emerging sophomore who’s our best low post presence? It’ll be a hard decision for Hurley to make because if Akok is back at 100%, I would want to get him as much time as possible too. Just hard to see sitting either of those guys.

Sanogo is starting at the 5 and thats from day one so itd have to be Whalley. A DPOY coming off the bench? wow! If Akok is playing so well that he becomes a better option at the 4 than Whalley that would be an absolute luxury! I highly doubt Whalley takes a step back so we`d have one of the best players in the conference coming off the bench backing up a stud. Sign me up.

 

[husky429]

Are you serious? This guy has the talent to be a first rounder possibly lottery pick. If hes healthy and is able to do everything he was able to do pre injury he could be our best player by the time March roles around. He can attack the basket, shoot the 3, score in the post, rebound, defend and block shots. This kid is a big time talent.

I think you're forgetting who Akok was as a player.

Does have Akok have that potential? Yes. But he wasn't there pre-injury or even close to it. He was a mediocre scorer at all levels and certainly does not have a post up game. Way too small that season.

He averaged 5.8 points per game. 26% from 3 and 59% from the line--that's awful. Not a good passer (0.4) but his rebounding was solid for a freshman (5.5). Percentage from 2 despite the majority of his work being dunks was only 49%. Of course he was also a nasty defender being one of the leaders in the country defending the rim... probably stands a good chance of being our best all-around defender day 1 if he's healthy and confident. And I do think most of his deficiencies were due to size which he has put a ton of work on.

I get why fans want to have these crazy high expectations. But the kid hasn't played competitive ball in 18 months, snapped his achilles in half and wasn't as good as you are making him out to be offensively. Let's tone it down.

An OUTSTANDING junior year campaign in which Akok earn 25+ mins a game and thoroughly beats out Springs, Johnson, Rese, Polley for minutes at the 4 would look something like this to me: 10 ppg, 6 rpg, 1 apg, and maybe 2-3 blocks again. Freshman level defense both individual and team. Increases his catch and shoot percentage from deep to the low-mid 30s, uses his additional size to finish at the rim better with his right-hand 1-2 dribble drives and easy post ups... I'd practically guarantee you overhauling his shooting and learning to finish at the rim are his priorities this summer.

Even in the best case scenario I don't think he's going to be scoring 15 a game or anything. Developing any kind of left hand driving the ball, learning to be a better than average passer, or increasing his shooting up towards 40% or something doesn't seem likely to me.

 

[CL82]

I said this before in a couple of different threads, but I don’t see how the pieces fit this year despite all the individual talent we have. I also don’t think that we have a true go to guy on the team. For us to be successful this year with the personnel that we have we have to look for opportunistic offense and be absolutely relentless on defense. We do have to personnel for that because there isn’t a huge drop off from the first team to the bench. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entirely possible that someone has a breakout season, but it will be a surprise if it comes.

I sometimes wonder if we should be focusing more on boxing out, getting a rebound, and running the fast break then blocking shots. Again, as I’ve said before, if we are relying on our half court offense, it’s going to be a long season.

 

[Deleted at users request]

I said this before in a couple of different threads, but I don’t see how the pieces fit this year despite all the individual talent we have. I also don’t think that we have a true go to guy on the team. For us to be successful this year with the personnel that we have we have to look for opportunistic offense and be absolutely relentless on defense. We do have to personnel for that because there isn’t a huge drop off from the first team to the bench. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entirely possible that someone has a breakout season, but it will be a surprise if it comes.

I sometimes wonder if we should be focusing more on boxing out, getting a rebound, and running the fast break then blocking shots. Again, as I’ve said before, if we are relying on our half court offense, it’s going to be a long season.

I can definitely see this too. It can start to look real 2012 or 2016ish. I think this team goes as far as AJ has developed. If he can turn into an All Conference player than I’d feel very good about that team. That would include him being a no brained starter at the beginning of the season.

 

[LIuconn]

Yes, I’m serious. Rooting for him but the talent around him has improved dramatically and he’s coming off one of the most devastating injuries out there. Not sure his offense puts him in lottery or NBA talent range today.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I think you're forgetting who Akok was as a player.

I get why fans want to have these crazy high expectations. But the kid hasn't played competitive ball in 18 months, snapped his achilles in half and wasn't as good as you are making him out to be offensively. Let's tone it down.

I know what you are saying but as you said yourself "he was a freshman" yet he showed ability to do all those things i mentioned. I didnt say he did them at a high level but the talent is clearly there. You dont see the talent, ok.