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Leaf Becoming Acquainted with Comfort Zone

The gulf between "not playing" and "can't play" can be vast, and it has swallowed the early stages of TJ Leaf's NBA career at times.

Expectations tend to run high for first-round draft picks, given the amount of publicity that arrives with the honor and the limited patience awarded to them, no matter how young they might be. Never mind that Leaf, in his second season with the Pacers, is 13 days younger than Indiana University senior Juwan Morgan and 20 days younger than Purdue senior Ryan Cline, and would be wrapping up his junior season at UCLA if he had not entered the draft. Some people just aren't going to get why a guy taken with the 18th pick in the draft and has a rookie season under his shorts can't break into the playing rotation.

For Leaf, it's simple. He's stuck behind a veteran co-captain in Thaddeus Young as well as more proven players such as Domantas Sabonis and Bojan Bogdanovic who slide into the "four" position on occasion. Harsh realities such as those have required coach Nate McMillan to remind Leaf why he didn't get off the bench for 18 games in which he dressed and received only late-game scraps of minutes in most others.

"As I've told him, he's not (sitting) because I don't like him, you know, really he's not playing because it's just difficult to play 10 guys," McMillan said following Thursday's victory over Minnesota.

Leaf was more likable than ever in that game, scoring a career-high 18 points in 15 minutes. It likely was his most complete game yet, and certainly his most meaningful. He hit 7-of-12 shots, scoring on a variety of post moves and even a long-lost 3-pointer, grabbed a few rebounds, passed off for a couple of assists and blocked a shot.

It was the kind of performance that earns minutes, but those will be difficult to come by – again – when Sabonis returns from his sprained ankle and sops up some of the "four" minutes by playing with Myles Turner and Bogdanovic takes a turn at his preferred position so that McMillan can play Doug McDermott and Bogdanovic together for a while.

McMillan prefers a nine-man playing rotation, and even a 10-man can leave Leaf out of the mix if Kyle O'Quinn is needed to play center. McMillan has recently talked of going with a "nine-and-a-half-man rotation" to find some time for Leaf. That usually results in a five-to-eight minute opportunity that expands only if the game becomes too one-sided to require the services of the starters.

Leaf has accepted his fate without complaint. He rarely shows emotion anyway, but even if he did he gives the impression he wouldn't question his role. He's a coach's son, so he understands the difficulty in parceling minutes with a deep roster. Nor has he seemed to lose confidence. Asked whether he needed a game such as Thursday's to reinforce his confidence, his answer was quick and direct.

"No," he said. "I'm a pretty confident guy. I don't take what a lot of people say, good, bad or ugly. I know what I can do out there. I just play my game."

Leaf's game has always impressed his Pacers teammates. While one wouldn't expect them to downgrade him, they usually go beyond the standardized level of praise. His performance against the Timberwolves didn't seem to surprise any of them, having seen him in practices scrimmages often enough to believe in his future.

TJ Leaf

Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images

"TJ's got a little bit of everything," Darren Collison said. "He can take you off the dribble. He's athletic. He can shoot. He's smart. He understands the game. He's going to be a really good player, it's just about him having an opportunity to showcase his talents."

Across the room, after everyone else had left, Young echoed that sentiment.

"TJ is a baller," Young said. "He does a really good job of just coming in and being active. It's just a matter of getting him consistent minutes. That's the biggest thing. The more minutes he gets, the more he can be aggressive and get in a comfort zone. He's not in a comfort zone right now. Once he gets in a comfort zone, TJ can be a really good player."

There's a difference between confident and comfortable, so while Leaf might be sincere in his professed confident he can't be expected to be comfortable yet. He sprained an ankle 58 seconds into his debut in the season-opener and had to sit out the next three games. He didn't score until the ninth game, didn't score in double figures until the 19th game, didn't do it again until the 50th game and didn't do it for a third time until Thursday's 63rd game.

Sabonis' injury, as damaging as it was in Wednesday's loss in Dallas, has created opportunity. Leaf hit all four field goal attempts and grabbed seven rebounds in 16 ½ minutes against the Mavericks and topped that in his 21 ½ minutes on Thursday.

The odd thing is that Leaf's recent contributions haven't come in the expected form. He was a 46 percent 3-point shooter in his only season at UCLA and a 43 percent shooter last season for the Pacers. But for whatever reason he's hit just 24 percent (6 of 25) this season, a measly rate that got a boost when he hit his only attempt against Minnesota.

He doesn't consider the sample size to be significant enough to draw a conclusion.

"I haven't taken a whole lot; it's not a big number," he said. "I'm not worried about that. I know what I can do from the 3-point line."

He also knows what he can do around the basket, which has surprised those who didn't see him play before coming to the Pacers. He has the length, jumping ability, quickness, touch and instincts to score among the NBA forests, as he proved on Thursday when all but one of his seven field goals – the 3-pointer – came off a layup or post move.

His first three baskets, in the second quarter, came off a one-dribble move to establish balance and position and a jump hook. He added two free throws in the third after drawing a foul from Karl-Anthony Towns on a drive to the basket, then hit a 3-pointer on a kick-out pass from Bogdanovic, and followed with a one-hander over Derrick Rose on the baseline. He finished the period with a left-handed layup on a drive from the 3-point line. His final field goal came on a layup off a pick-and-roll with Cory Joseph.

"That was the biggest part of my game growing up," he said of his insider access. "I've always had smaller guys guarding me. I was able to take bigger guys off the dribble, so they put smaller guys on me. I've always been able to (score) in the post. I'm getting more comfortable down there at this level now and it's kind of showing."

Leaf also is getting more comfortable on defense. He admits that was the one area he lacked confidence last season, which is understandable given how eagerly, aggressively and successfully opponents singled him out for attack. Thursday, however, he blocked Andrew Wiggins' shot in the lane, drew an offensive foul from Towns and forced a miss on Jeff Teague's driving layup late in the game. He's hardly a stopper, but he no longer seems a sieve.

Sabonis is unlikely to play in Saturday's game against Orlando, which should maintain another significant opportunity for Leaf. But when everyone on the frontline is healthy, Leaf will go back to living outside the rotation, or being halfway in it.

He understands the circumstance. Understands he doesn't turn 22 until April 30. Understands he wouldn't even be planning a Senior Day speech yet if had stayed in college. Understands he's not behind schedule, at least as a member of a winning team.

"I like to play, but at the end of the day I'm on this team trying to get as many wins as we can," he said. "The coaches are going to put us in situations where they think we can get the win, whether that's me or not. Tonight it happened to be a little bit. We got the win and that's what really matters."

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Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.

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