I think the leaf loss may have been from getting too dry. I would soak that for a few hours to soften everything up before attempting to get in there & remove the old soil. Trimming off the outside edge of the root ball will help you see if that's even possible.

This plant just looks tall, not leggy (etiolated, excess space between leaves.) No need to cut off anything if you like it as-is. I do.

I agree the leaf loss has nothing to do with you over-watering day before. It resulted from the plant's prolonged state of dryness (or if the plant had been moved to a dim corner, from the change in light). If you want to keep the plant's shape and are going to repot and root prune, you need to defoliate the tree completely when you do the repot, otherwise the stems are likely to die back.

Defoliate by cutting through the main leaf stem with a scissors. Get a pruning saw and cut the bottom half of the roots off, then work until you have all the soil removed from the remaining half of the roots. Then use sharp bypass pruners to remove large roots that are growing downward from under the trunks or back toward the center of the root mass. Repot with new soil and secure the plant to the pot so it can't move in relation to the pot, and keep soil barely damp. I would put the plant in shade out of wind until it starts to bud back, then move to full sun.

Your root mass should look something like this when you're done. The next time you repot, you can remove long roots that tend to circle around the outside of the root mass. I didn't remove them because I'd already removed at least 90% of this plant's root mass. Keep the roots wet at all times while you're working on them.

Al

Yikes! I wouldn't cut the roots. You have so few compared to the size of the plant. I would repot it into a larger pot, stake it and fertilize.

Thanks everyone for your input!

I think I'll take my chances with the repotting, just a little root pruning, staking etc, minus the defoliating. Al, I have the utmost utmost respect for you and feel grateful when I even see a response from you on one of my questions, but the truth is I have 2 young kids and a brand new puppy and am literally running around most of my current days, never feeling like I'm getting enough done and infrequently sitting to just enjoy it-- and I just don't want to walk by this plant without leaves for however long it'd take to gain enough new ones! I'm on the market for instant gratification these days, or as near I can get. For $10 I'll take my chances with what I can accomplish in 20 minutes. I definitely learned something here though-- I've never even heard of "defoliating"! How very interesting, just wild really.

Hopefully I can post a decent happy picture of this guy in the months to come. In the meantime, there's this: