8 points, 9 seconds
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Indiana Pacers Love/Hate Series: T.J Leaf

By Jacob Breece

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 01: Indiana Pacers Forward TJ Leaf (22) looks on during an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Clippers on April 1, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 01: Indiana Pacers Forward TJ Leaf (22) looks on during an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Clippers on April 1, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – APRIL 6: C.J. Miles #0 of the Toronto Raptors dribbles the ball as TJ Leaf #22 of the Indiana Pacers defends during the second half of an NBA game at Air Canada Centre on April 6, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – APRIL 6: C.J. Miles #0 of the Toronto Raptors dribbles the ball as TJ Leaf #22 of the Indiana Pacers defends during the second half of an NBA game at Air Canada Centre on April 6, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

What We Hate About T.J Leaf

As good as Leaf’s shooting is, his defense is equally as bad. It’s no secret Leaf has to improve on that end and he now needs to do it in a hurry. Generally, the youth card would be a good one to play, but with Kyle O’Quinn and now Alize Johnson here to push for minutes his defensive awareness has to improve.

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Once again, his physical profile will most likely never get to the standard of a good defender. He’s not very long and his lateral quickness is suspect on it’s best day. This leaves Leaf with a very slim margin for error on that end of the floor. The one area outside of conditioning that he could really make up for his lack of physical gifts is his awareness. T.J was laughably lost at times last season, but somewhat understandably so. Rookies often struggle to adapt to the speed of the game in their first year, but that won’t, better yet that can’t, be an excuse this year.

I still hold out hope that he can make major strides mainly because of how well Indy’s system allows sub-par defenders to look at least average (Bojan Bogdanovic). His internal clock needs to tick a bit faster and his understanding of rotations and pick and roll coverage needs improvement, but that just takes time and after a year to learn that should be enough to make a difference.

Although T.J is game ready offensively, for the most part, his playmaking and finishing still need to make significant strides. He actually surprised me with his ability to get to the rim and make tough layups, but he’ll need to finish with more dunks and trips to the free throw line to truly blossom as an offensive weapon.

Another underdeveloped part of Leaf’s offensive game is his playmaking. Of the 509 players that registered an assist last year, T.J finished 502nd with only 0.7 assists per-36 minutes. In short, that is bad.

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