The ACC’s Most Improved Player in 2022, Dereon Seabron broke out as a sophomore. On the year, he averaged 17.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.4 SPG, and 2.4 TOPG on shooting splits of 49/26/71. Below is his full scouting report:
Name: Dereon Seabron
Height/Weight: 6’6/182
Wingspan/ standing reach: 6’9/8’7 ½
Hand size: 9 ½
Position: Wing
Pre-Draft team: North Carolina State
Tools: Slashing, frame, athleticism
Pros:
- Long arms with NBA strength
- Comfortable with both hands
- Good athlete
- Shifty in getting to the rim; excellent change of speeds
- Excellent rebounder
- Explosive first step
- Advanced ball handling package
- Excellent in transition
- Great body control
- Excels as drawing contact and getting to the line
- Length should be able to help force steals in the passing lanes
Cons:
- Doesn’t shoot many 3s and shoots a low percentage from 3
- 1 level scorer
- Underwhelming passing feel
- Must tighten handle to reduce turnovers; must also minimize lazy passes
- Falls asleep on defense far too often
- Needs to be more willing to finish with his left hand even more often
- Easy to go under screens against
Summary
Dereon Seabron is a slashing wing with long arms and excellent athleticism.
As a scorer, Seabron does a great job of getting to the rim and finishing against defenders. With a quick first step, long strides, and long arms, Seabron can get to the rim and extend above defenders to finish drives. However, right now Seabron is only a one level scorer, being a nearly exclusive scorer at the rim. This can provide challenges for him against screens, being easy for defenders to go under screens due to his lack of jump shooting.
As a shooter, Seabron’s form is projectable without a hitch. However, his production and touch may be underwhelming, evidenced by a 2 year career FT% of 69%, and being in the 17th percentile as a jump shooter as a sophomore, per Synergy. In order to stick as a scorer in the NBA, Seabron will either have to become an elite slasher or a respectable jump shooter, both from mid range and from 3 point range.
While Seabron has good assist numbers, his passing can be improved in the NBA. He can be too score-first as a ball-handler, and will need to more quickly recognize open teammates out of drives and in pick & rolls. Like many of his weaknesses as a sophomore, this weakness may have been over-exposed because of the North Carolina State team around him that only won 11 games.
Defensively, Seabron plays the passing lanes well with his length and athleticism. While it can be hard to tell how good Seabron truly is defensively because of the performance of the team as a whole, Seabron had his share of lapses on the defensive end, both off-ball and on-ball. One way to fix the on-ball woes is to simply be in defensive stance more often, since his frame and athleticism give him ideal tools to be at least average on the NBA level when full effort is applied.
Overall, Seabron’s archetype is favorable enough to gamble on, assuming that his work ethic is strong enough to earn the stripes of some of the names listed below as comparisons. If he never improves enough as a shooter or defender, his scoring at the rim can be negated by NBA caliber defenses.
Similar to: DeMar DeRozan (aesthetic play style), DeShaun Stevenson, Will Barton
Projected draft range: 25-50
Expected role: Slasher that can be relied upon to both draw fouls and create scoring opportunities at and near the rim
Unplayable if: Jump shooting woes translate to the NBA, and his defense does not improve.
Exceeds expectations if: Slashing is an elite tool that translates up to the NBA, and his tools on defense make him a passable defender. In this case, his 3 point shooting and overall jump shooting are a bonus, so long as he develops a reliable floater and improves as a free throw shooter.
Videos:
Shot chart:
