Player Profile:
“For what Leaf lacks in athletic prowess, he makes up for with an exceptional feel for the game. He understands what to do when he gets the basketball, and shows two-way instincts that are almost unequaled among power forwards in this year’s class.
He’s a 48.8 percent shooter from deep — and that alone boosts his stock — but Leaf is also an at-times-brilliant passer out of the post and boasts the ball handling prowess needed to work his way into the offense off of the perimeter.
He makes other players around him better — an almost tailor-made companion for Lonzo Ball — and is a highly underrated cog in one of college basketball’s most efficient and well-oiled offensive machines. It’s difficult to find players who understand the flow of an offense as well as Leaf appears to, , which is an invaluable asset for a player trying to make the jump to NBA play.” — 2017 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0.
Outside Opinion:
“UCLA’s TJ Leaf has a very good offensive skill set for the modern NBA. The 19-year old is averaging 22.3 points per 40 minutes for the nation’s top offense. He’s shooting 67.4 percent on 2s and 46.7 percent on 3s. Leaf is a solid slasher with the ability to beat slower defenders off the dribble. He’s also a developing jump shooter. He’s taken just 45 3-point attempts this season and has a poor free throw percentage, so his 3-point numbers are probably a bit inflated at this point.
The problem is that Leaf is a really questionable defensive piece. Sure, he’s a good defensive rebounder for his position, posting a 20.7 percent defensive rebounding rate, but the eye test doesn’t treat him very well. Leaf often gets taken advantage of in pick-and-roll when guarding the roll man, for example. Sound like any other former UCLA power forwards who can shoot?” — Chris Stone in FanSided’s NBA Mock Draft 2017, Week 14.
Team Fit:
Orlando already selected their point guard of the future, per se, with Dennis Smith Jr. earlier on, meaning they can address their lacking frontcourt depth with their latter pick. With Serge Ibaka now gone, the Magic will need to pad their rotation behind Aaron Gordon at the four spot — something Leaf’s intuitive game could help with right way.
Leaf doesn’t have the most NBA-esque physical tools, but is an incredibly smart basketball player and boasts all the necessary skills outside of that to contribute from day one. He’s a capable floor spacer, and boasts the type of passing touch and ball handling skills needed to provide a glue guy of sorts in reserve.
There’s not much chance we’d see Leaf anywhere near the starting rotation next season, but he could very well play an integral role off the bench. This is a Magic team that’s in rebuilding mode, and the combination of Smith and Leaf is a nice boost to those efforts.