At No. 18, the Pacers drafted T.J. Leaf out of UCLA. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel while his father played professionally basketball. Leaf, who played just one year of college basketball, met with the Pacers Draft Combine in Chicago and then came to Indianapolis for a workout on May 23.
Leaf’s father, Brad, attended Lawrence North High School and he has roots in Indianapolis and Evansville.
See Also: T.J. Leaf discusses getting drafted by the Pacers
Shortly after the Pacers’ selection, head coach Nate McMillan came down to the media room to talk about Leaf’s game and what he’ll bring to the Pacers.
“He’s a very skillful big guy that can spread the floor,” McMillan said. “I think his basketball IQ is very high. His ability to spread the floor from the 3-point line. He can put the ball on the floor. He can pass the ball. His ability to stretch the floor I thought was the main thing that he did well. Defensively, he’s going to have to work in that area.”
Watch McMillan’s first comments on Leaf below:
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