T.J. Leaf’s development could be crucial for the Pacers future

The Indiana Pacers need the added depth and flexibility that T.J. Leaf could provide at power forward — if he takes a step forward in his development.

As a thought exercise, I would like you to name the Indiana Pacers 3rd string power forward. It’s a hard one, I’ll wait. 

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Give up? That’s because they don’t have one unless Alize Johnson makes the team. While we here at 8 Points 9 Seconds would never overreact (please don’t fact check that claim), T.J. Leaf looked abhorrent in his first summer league game.

He finished the game 2-14 shooting, and the process was worse than the results. Leaf forced shots into multiple defenders, repeatedly attacking and throwing up off balance prayers. When he did pull up, his shots from floater range careened every which way, including a 12 footer that missed rim entirely.

The Pacers likely knew Leaf was a project when they drafted him, which is fine — his shooting is NBA ready, and that’s crucial from a stretch 4 in today’s league. That’s also the problem. T.J. Leaf is the only actual stretch 4 on the roster. 

The signing of Kyle O’Quinn was awesome — he’s an underrated player who has always outperformed his expectations. He’s a guy who is solid across the board, and overqualified as the 3rd center behind Turner and Sabonis. What he’s not, however, is a power forward, and certainly not one with any stretch. The pairing of O’Quinn and Sabonis made a combined 17 3’s on the year, at a 31% clip. The rest of the 2nd unit has varying degrees of range. 

Tyreke Evans (assuming he maintains his role as 6th man) was excellent from deep the past 2 years, though he only played in 92 of a possible 164 games. He finished that span at 39% over 406 attempts. While 406 shots is a sizable sample, he was at a paltry 28% prior to that over a 5-year span. It’s certainly possible the shot is here to stay, but it wouldn’t be shocking if it falls back to earth either.

Doug “McBuckets” McDermott has no such issue, at 40% for his career. His shooting is his biggest strength, by far. CoJo would likely round out that second unit. While Joseph has put up a reasonable 35% each of the past 2 years, it was only 115 makes total. 

What that adds up to, well, isn’t a lot of spacing outside of the theoretical. Maybe CoJo can maintain league average efficiency while increasing his number of attempts. Maybe Tyreke’s form holds true and he really is a 39% shooter moving forward (for the record, I believe Evans will remain a good shooter, though not necessarily 39% good). Maybe Domas Sabonis stretches his range out to 3 on occasion. Maybe Kyle O’Quinn’s midrange game translates to 3. It’s certainly possible. 

Next: Thaddeus Young vs the Raccoon

T.J. Leaf looked better in the second game of the Pacers summer league. We know his shot is real — he made 42.9 percent of his 3-pointers last season. The Pacers need his game to be real. For the second unit to function optimally, the Pacers need T.J. to play and play reasonably well. If he can, this unit will carve up opposing backups. If he can’t, they’ll need to hope their defense is enough.