TJ Leaf is giving the Pacers some effective minutes

TJ Leaf has played a decent number of minutes over the past two games. The Indiana Pacers have to be happy that he has finally been somewhat effective.

It took an injury to Myles Turner to make it happen, but TJ Leaf has been in the rotation for the Indiana Pacers during the past two games.

Normally, when Turner plays, Nate McMillan can find 5-8 minutes a game to play Turner and Domantas Sabonis together, which gives Thaddeus Young some needed rest. But the coach is averse to playing Domantas Sabonis and Kyle O’Quinn together, as they wouldn’t fit well at all. Someone has to play backup power forward so that Thad doesn’t end up playing 40 minutes, and TJ Leaf has been the beneficiary of some playing time in Turner’s absence.

Leaf has made the most of it.

After a strong preseason, Leaf saw his development spurned by an ankle injury like 3 seconds into the regular season. He never returned to preseason form once he returned from injury, and he fell out of the rotation altogether. But this opportunity could be just what Leaf needed, both for his confidence and his chance at returning to being the player he was in the preseason.

Leaf has accrued 29.5 minutes of playing time across the two games, more than he has played in any two-game span this whole season before this stretch – and by a large amount. What he is doing with that time is impressive given the expectations he has created for himself.

All 7 of Leaf’s two-point shots have gone in, mostly comprising of duck-ins around the basket. This sudden showing of finishing and touch around the rim has raised his shooting percentage from 0-3 feet to 68.4 percent, an orderly number:

The 68.4 percent figure is over 7 percent better than last season. Leaf informed the Pacer world on media day that he added 20 pounds of muscle, and you can see it as he is finishing better through contract and absorbing defenders.

Leaf snagged 6 rebounds in the 29 minutes as well, with 5 of them coming on the defensive end of the floor. For all of the strength trouble that he has on the defensive end, he is a fairly effective rebounder due to solid positioning and timing. We have seen him dominate the offensive glass in preseason games, but seeing him pull down the boards on the other end of the floor was a welcome surprise in this pair of games.

Leaf’s offensive and defensive rebound rates are both up from last year, and his total rebound rate is up by over 3 percent. If Leaf can keep being explosive on the glass, he should be able to stay on the floor for a few minutes each game:

TJ Leaf’s defense still leaves a lot to be desired. Like, a whole lot. But if he can corral misses and limit the number of possessions the other team has, he can mitigate some of the problems he has on that end of the floor.

An important thing for the Indiana Pacers at this stage of Leaf’s career is skill development. Even if his impact isn’t necessarily better, seeing him do things like this has to be encouraging for the front office:

The speed of the pro game often overwhelmed and confused Leaf in his rookie season. This is the case with most rookies. But over a year of film sessions and occasional playing time will slow the game down for everyone, and TJ is no exception. Here, you can literally see him think and process his next move before making a cross-court pass to an open Doug McDermott for the corner 3:

Maybe these last two games have been a flash in the pan for Leaf, but it is still important to take a step back and see him doing things that he wasn’t able to do before.

I understand the skepticism surrounding TJ Leaf and his development, but it is still good to see him playing better for the Indiana Pacers. Hopefully, Leaf can keep this up for a span of time longer than two games. If he does, he may start to get some actual playing time.