JP Tokoto flying high in Ramat Gan, helps promoted club find early success, eyes playing for Israel

When JP Tokoto picked up a loose ball and saw that there was no one impeding his way to the basket, his eyes lit up like flying saucers as he gracefully made his way toward the hoop and readied himself to do what he does best – put down an otherworldly dunk.

To get the fans out of their seats, the North Carolina product chose to provide the spectators with one of his patented jams as he leapt into the air and turned his body 360 degrees ever so gracefully, slamming the ball through the hoop and essentially sealing Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan’s 86-78 victory over Hapoel Beersheba.

As the team celebrated yet another win to move the top-tier newcomer into third place in the league standings, the ever-so-humble Tokoto didn’t want to make too much of the dunk.

“It’s just another basket for me and it’s something I am used to doing. If I have a fast break, I am going to dunk the ball. So that’s nothing new for me.”

Tokoto arrived in Israel back in 2018 when he joined Hapoel Eilat after having played in the NBA’s G-League as well as in Australia. A love affair with the Holy Land was soon born.

After featuring for the Red Sea squad, Tokoto played with Ness Ziona, which was followed by three seasons at Hapoel Tel Aviv before joining Ramat Gan this year.

A successful season

Following his team’s 11th win of the campaign, Tokoto spoke to The Jerusalem Post about the club’s successful season thus far, his desire to play for the Israel National Team as well as the various people who have helped take Ramat Gan to the next level as it competes for an improbable championship.

“Getting back in the win column was what we wanted,” Tokoto said after the victory over Beersheba, after a home loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv the prior week.

“Playing the way we know how to play, having fun with it and protecting home court. We have a great record this season at home, and I hope I am not jinxing it, taking care of business, and even on the road. In my mind, we haven’t lost two in a row so that is something we want to carry forward, which is our winning mentality.”

Ramat Gan moved up to the top league from Israel’s Leumit League this season and has surprised many by not only being competitive game-in and game-out, but by sitting with an 11-6 record so far, and also most probably earning a bye through to the quarterfinals of the Israel State Cup.

Tokoto, however, says that although Ramat Gan may be back in the Premier League for the first time in over a decade, it has a tremendous amount to offer.

“We are a new team, but we have a lot of experience. We also have guys that compete hard, that want to play together, that love to play together, share the ball and play really good basketball. So really it’s nothing that we are surprised about at all.”

Ramat Gan’s coach, Shmulik Brenner, has seen plenty of basketball in his 43 years as both a player and a coach, having been in charge of the club since March 2021. One of the qualities that Tokoto greatly appreciates is how the lines of communication between the coach and players are always open.

“Shmulik is an awesome coach, his ability to communicate with his players, his level of caring, is something that I think is a little overlooked because you don’t get that from every coach. I’ve got guys playing in various countries who are having trouble talking to their coach, while I can go to Shmulik in the middle of the game and tell him, ‘hey, check this out’, or ‘this is going on’, or ‘try this’ or ‘what do you think of this?’ He has an open line of communication which most coaches don’t have.”

“I have had that in Israel with Danny Franco and I also had it when I was Hapoel Eilat when I was with Sharon Drucker, who are both amazing coaches who I keep in touch with. I believe that Shmulik will take us to the top and he’s been proving that.”

One of Brenner’s most trusted assistants is Naomi Kolodny, the only female coach in the first division. The Brazilian made Aliyah before the turn of the century and played professionally in the Holy Land between 1999-2015 before embarking on her second career on the bench. With International Women’s Day this week, Tokoto made sure to talk about one of the main cogs in the Ramat Gan machine.

Tokoto is one of Kolodny’s biggest fans.

“Putting aside International Women’s Day and that she is a woman in our league coaching, which of course there are not many of, with all that put aside, her knowledge of the game, the way she communicates with players and just her level of caring  is amazing. I see it, I talk with her and she talks with other players. She could be a head coach and have her own club and she has been one of my favorite people to be around and work with, totally aside from the fact that she is one of the only women in our league that is coaching. She has been hands-down amazing, one of my favorites.”

As Tokoto mentioned, Ramat Gan has a number of veteran players, including Kendale McCullum. The point guard joined the team over the summer and played in the preseason Winner Cup tournament, but left to Poland and Slask Wroclaw when the war broke out. However, things didn’t work out the way he had hoped and then returned back to Israel to rejoin Ramat Gan, to Tokoto’s joy.

“It’s not so crazy – he missed me! Kendale is a great player, a great point guard and he’s going to fit in anywhere. I was surprised that the team in Poland just didn’t work out. That’s a guy you can plug in and play.”

Ramat Gan, which has been striving towards the top of the league, decided to make a huge in-season move by signing another guard in up-and-coming star Itay Moskovits from Hapoel Haifa.

“Moshko,” as he is lovingly known by his teammates, made an instant impact upon joining the team as he has slotted right into Brenner’s rotation with ease. So much so has Moskovits integrated nicely, that the 23-year old has already provided some thrills and chills with a pair of killer baskets as time wound down to help Ramat Gan close out Beersheba, which to Tokoto was nothing spectacular but expected.

“It’s been great, as he’s another guy that can come in and help the team. Those shots – that is nothing we didn’t expect from him, in fact it’s exactly what we knew we were getting. We knew that ‘Moshko’ can shoot the ball and pass the ball and that he’s a great offensive guy to have on the team. He’s a guy who came in and meshed with the guys, which is a testimony to the camaraderie we have already with our team.”

Tokoto, who has been a part of the Israeli fabric, sees himself as a true-blue Sabra at this point and has fallen in love with everything the country has to offer.

“I’ve been here for a very long time and most of the guys consider me Israeli already, and I have friends here that feel the same. I’ve got a lot of loved ones here, one in particular, so I stayed for them and also this is my home. For 8-9 months of the year I am here and that has been the same for the last four years. My family was a little bit worried  [when the war broke out] and I did go home to work out and get my own gym time and take care of my body with the guys I know back home. With the league not playing, it was an opportunity to see my family and I took it. I came right back as soon as the team said we were going to hit the ground and we have been rolling ever since.”

With the National Team looking to add a naturalized Israeli, Tokoto would be delighted if the opportunity to help out the country on the court ever become a possibility.

“It’s a no-brainer. This is a place that I have considered my home and I would have no problem playing for Israel. I have been welcomed with open arms for every club that I have played with here, from Hapoel Eilat to Ness Ziona to Hapoel Tel Aviv for three years straight, to now Maccabi Ramat Gan. Wherever I have been, everyone has accepted me and treated me like an awesome human being.

“Like I said, this is home and if I was asked to play for the Israel National Team, that would be a for-sure yes. I know all of the Israeli guys that play for that team, most of them I have played with – guys like Bar Timor, Tomer Ginat, Idan Zalmanson – these types of guys are great people and of course I would have no problem.”