LOS ANGELES — Brad Leaf had early exposure to European-style big men, those 7-footers who pass ably from the post and create shots from the perimeter.
During nearly two decades in Israel’s top basketball league in the 1980s and ’90s, Leaf played against future N.B.A. players like Toni Kukoc and Vlade Divac, as well as others who might have had N.B.A. careers in today’s foreign-inflected league of towering, versatile “unicorns” like the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis.
So years later, after Leaf, his wife and their four children had moved to Southern California, and his youngest son, T. J., displayed both an interest in basketball and the height of a power forward — 6 feet 3 inches in junior high, 6-9 as a high school sophomore — Brad Leaf had a particular style of play in mind for him.
“I just kept on having him play on the perimeter,” said Brad, who was T. J.’s coach in pre-high-school summer leagues and then at Foothills Christian High School near San Diego. “Guard skills — like over in Europe, like I was accustomed to.”
The world has seen Brad and T. J. Leaf’s efforts blossom during the past several months. T. J. Leaf, a freshman at U.C.L.A. and now 6-10 (verging, according to his coach, Steve Alford, on 6-11), rebounds on both ends, sets picks on the perimeter, kicks the ball out to shooters and makes nearly half his 3-point attempts. In short, he has become exactly the kind of Swiss Army knife big man that Brad taught him to be, and that the N.B.A. and even college basketball teams increasingly seek.
“He’s very skilled,” Alford said. “He can beat you inside. He can beat you outside.”
“I just kept on having him play on the perimeter,” said Brad, who was T. J.’s coach in pre-high-school summer leagues and then at Foothills Christian High School near San Diego. “Guard skills — like over in Europe, like I was accustomed to.”
The world has seen Brad and T. J. Leaf’s efforts blossom during the past several months. T. J. Leaf, a freshman at U.C.L.A. and now 6-10 (verging, according to his coach, Steve Alford, on 6-11), rebounds on both ends, sets picks on the perimeter, kicks the ball out to shooters and makes nearly half his 3-point attempts. In short, he has become exactly the kind of Swiss Army knife big man that Brad taught him to be, and that the N.B.A. and even college basketball teams increasingly seek.
“He’s very skilled,” Alford said. “He can beat you inside. He can beat you outside.”
And Leaf is one of the best players on one of college basketball’s best teams, leading U.C.L.A. in scoring and rebounds as the No. 6 Bruins (23-3, 10-3 Pacific-12 Conference), the leaders in national championships, seek their first title since 1995 and their second since the John Wooden era ended in 1975.
Leaf helped kick off the Bruins’ current four-game win streak with a 32-point, 14-rebound effort at Washington State on Feb. 1, one they need to keep going as they face their crosstown rival Southern California — which has won the last four games in the rivalry — on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins’ calling card is their fast-paced offense, which, according to most statistics, is college basketball’s best: in points per game, field-goal percentage, points per possession and adjusted offensive efficiency; according to Kenpom.com, considering the strength of their opponents, they score 1.246 points per possession.
“It’s a ton of fun, and we’re definitely getting better,” Leaf said in an interview this week.
Lonzo Ball, a freshman point guard, has justly earned most of the attention for his brilliant passes — he leads Division I in assists — and his effective, if unorthodox, shooting motion, which has let him make more than 43 percent of his 3-pointers. Ball is most often compared to Jason Kidd and is expected to be a lottery pick in this year’s N.B.A. draft.
But as much as Ball, Leaf makes U.C.L.A’s offense tick. He can be effective down low as a big man, playing power forward alongside the 7-foot junior Thomas Welsh, as evidenced by the several alley-oops he converted in a December victory over Oregon State. But he can also play along the perimeter, luring large defenders outside and clearing the way for guards like Ball and Bryce Alford to drive, while standing ready to receive a kick-out and shoot an open 3-point attempt — or even take it to the basket himself.
“I think he’s leading the league in field-goal percentage, so he’s very efficient,” Alford said of Leaf — correctly, although Ball is slightly ahead of Leaf atop the Pac-12 in effective field goal percentage. “I think he can just beat you in so many different ways.”
Players like Leaf unlock the mismatches that make coaches salivate — unless they have to defend against them.
Many top college teams rely heavily on so-called small ball, loosely defined as lineups with just one traditional big man. While many teams, like last year’s national champion, Villanova, field four wing players to go with their center, others use a so-called stretch four, a power forward with guardlike skills to bridge the gap between the guards and a true big man. Many N.B.A. teams operate like that: in crunchtime, LeBron James can effectively assume that role for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense. And with Leaf and Welsh on the floor — as they are the majority of the time — U.C.L.A.’s offense works the same way.
“There’s no way to help on a guy like that,” Brad Leaf said. “He opens everything up. It’s usually the guards who open everything up, but with a guy like that, he brings the big guy away from the basket, lets the guards penetrate.”
That is actually why Leaf, a coveted five-star prospect, chose U.C.L.A. over other scholarship offers. In his American Athletic Union leagues, he had an understanding with his coach that he could play in that style — for example, by bringing the ball up the floor himself after defensive rebounds. He spent the summer of 2015 playing European-style ball on Israel’s under-19 team (while not Jewish, Leaf was born in Israel and has dual citizenship). U.C.L.A., he said, gave him the opportunity to stay within that tradition.
“That was intriguing to me: They were going to let me be a versatile player,” he said. “They were going to let me play basketball the way I like to play basketball. And they like to run, and I like to run and play in transition. As you can see, it’s definitely been exactly what they said.”
Leaf has probably played himself into the N.B.A. draft’s first round, though he demurred when asked what his plans were, saying he was still focusing only on this season. Still, he offered tantalizing hints of the kind of player someone with his skill set could become, citing Ryan Anderson and Chandler Parsons as N.B.A. players whom he aspires to play like — Anderson an especially sharpshooting power forward, and Parsons a lanky shooter who traditionally plays small forward, or “the three.”
“My foot speed needs to get a little bit better to defend the three at a high level,” Leaf said, “but it’s definitely getting there.”
“I think he’s leading the league in field-goal percentage, so he’s very efficient,” Alford said of Leaf — correctly, although Ball is slightly ahead of Leaf atop the Pac-12 in effective field goal percentage. “I think he can just beat you in so many different ways.”
Players like Leaf unlock the mismatches that make coaches salivate — unless they have to defend against them.
Many top college teams rely heavily on so-called small ball, loosely defined as lineups with just one traditional big man. While many teams, like last year’s national champion, Villanova, field four wing players to go with their center, others use a so-called stretch four, a power forward with guardlike skills to bridge the gap between the guards and a true big man. Many N.B.A. teams operate like that: in crunchtime, LeBron James can effectively assume that role for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense. And with Leaf and Welsh on the floor — as they are the majority of the time — U.C.L.A.’s offense works the same way.
“There’s no way to help on a guy like that,” Brad Leaf said. “He opens everything up. It’s usually the guards who open everything up, but with a guy like that, he brings the big guy away from the basket, lets the guards penetrate.”
That is actually why Leaf, a coveted five-star prospect, chose U.C.L.A. over other scholarship offers. In his American Athletic Union leagues, he had an understanding with his coach that he could play in that style — for example, by bringing the ball up the floor himself after defensive rebounds. He spent the summer of 2015 playing European-style ball on Israel’s under-19 team (while not Jewish, Leaf was born in Israel and has dual citizenship). U.C.L.A., he said, gave him the opportunity to stay within that tradition.
“That was intriguing to me: They were going to let me be a versatile player,” he said. “They were going to let me play basketball the way I like to play basketball. And they like to run, and I like to run and play in transition. As you can see, it’s definitely been exactly what they said.”
Leaf has probably played himself into the N.B.A. draft’s first round, though he demurred when asked what his plans were, saying he was still focusing only on this season. Still, he offered tantalizing hints of the kind of player someone with his skill set could become, citing Ryan Anderson and Chandler Parsons as N.B.A. players whom he aspires to play like — Anderson an especially sharpshooting power forward, and Parsons a lanky shooter who traditionally plays small forward, or “the three.”
“My foot speed needs to get a little bit better to defend the three at a high level,” Leaf said, “but it’s definitely getting there.”
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