OKC Thunder: 3 season goals for T.J. Leaf in 2020-21
Improve his free throw shooting.
One of the biggest issues in Leaf’s game is his free throw shooting. It has been a problem since his college days where he only shot the ball at 67.9 percent from the line. It is strange because his high 3-point percentage shows that Leaf can shoot.
This has translated poorly into the NBA. Over his three seasons, Leaf has taken 63 free throws and made only 36 of them. This is a percentage of 57.1 percent which could see him exit the NBA in the same way as Josh Boone. He was a talented center who was appalling from the line.
TJ Leaf doing it on both ends with the ball-fake & block!
— NBA (@NBA) January 31, 2019
End of Q1 on @ESPNNBA:#Pacers 25#DCFamily 35
Myles Turner: 7 PTS
Bradley Beal: 9 PTS, 4 AST pic.twitter.com/5RAWDMexd0
When he played more than 19 minutes per game, Leaf shot the ball at 66.7 percent from the line which shows that when Leaf is in the flow of the game, he improves his shooting. While this stands to reason, it also shows there is room for improvement should he be able to get on the court more.
What this low shooting percentage could show is that Leaf is in fact a very instinctual player. If you give him a slight opportunity and he will take it without thought. When he is on the line he has time to think about what he is doing and costing himself points.