In the third installment of my 2022 NBA Draft Breakdown series, I want to take a look at a player I’m super familiar with in N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron, a combo guard/wing/whatever you want to define him as. I’ve had the chance to watch Seabron play up close for the better part of the last two seasons, gotten to speak with him on several occasions and I still am no closer to defining what his role in the NBA could be.
First, let’s address the elephant in the room. Many outside of the Triangle area of North Carolina were surprised by Seabron’s decision to enter the draft, considering he has two extreme holes in his game: three-point shooting and defense (more on those later). Without touching on his personal reasons for wanting to enter, it’s important to note that Seabron, though a second-year player, redshirted his freshman season and is actually fresh off turning 22 years old. With the clock ticking, an excellent NBA Combine performance under his belt along with a near-18-point-per-game season, the timing was just right for Seabron to go ahead and enter.
Standing at 6-foot-7, Seabron is a wiry point forward that averaged 17.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game while boasting a 55.2% true-shooting percentage. At face value, the numbers look fantastic. Honestly, though, they don’t do enough justice in illustrating just how important Seabron was for N.C. State throughout the year, especially in the first half of the season. Seabron’s biggest claim to fame is his handle on the ball. For his size, Seabron is excellent with the ball in his hands, slipping by defenders with ease, attacking close-outs and keeping the ball away from opponents even when faced with double teams.
I actually got a chance to travel to Charlotte this year to watch Seabron go up against the Richmond Spiders and Richmond head coach Chris Mooney pretty much summed up everything there is to love about Seabron’s handle.
“He’s tremendous,” Mooney said. “He’s such an explosive and great athlete and also a great dribbler. He handles the ball so well in the halfcourt, in the full court, in tight spaces. And what we’re really trying to do is go under the ball screens — and that’s gotta be one of the tallest guys that’s having ball screens set for him — and really try to make it as crowded as possible. He can still find crevices, and if you’re on your heels, he’s able to jump and maneuver his body in difficult ways. He’s great. I’m sure he’s an NBA player. … In transition, he’s pretty much an automatic basket.”
Two key things to hone in on here: the mention of ball screens and his maneuverability. Seabron’s fit in the NBA could be extremely fun if it pans out, considering he is essentially a 6-foot-7 point guard. As Mooney mentioned, Seabron’s an extremely tall player to have ball screens set for him. It’s the kind of stuff you see set for other tall ball-handlers in the league. The ability to get by opponents is also valuable and it is this skill that gives Seabron a chance to be drafted.
Seabron also excels at getting out in transition and relentlessly attacking the basket, taking the majority of his shots at the rim. When Seabron is on, such as he was against Nebraska this past season, he bulldozes his way to the rim and there’s nothing defenses can do to stop him. Seabron is especially great at using his off-hand on drives and using it to get shots up. However, I will say that I left several games worried that Seabron had injured himself considering how frequently he drives and completely sacrifices his body to get the look he wants. That’s something to keep in mind.
Now, getting back to the two fundamentals Seabron needs to improve at in shooting and defense, these are going to be the two swing skills for Seabron to end up with a solid NBA career. Right now, Seabron is pretty much a complete non-shooter and he’s awful defensively. If Seabron can extend his range, the likelier option of the two, there’s a real chance at a successful career as an off-the-bench playmaker and scoring wing. If not, it’s impossible to picture a role for Seabron in the NBA. On one end, at his current stage, Seabron doesn’t have the quickness to read offenses, make switches or play in space, and on the other end, he needs the ball in his hands to be effective, something we have seen poison a career time and time again.
For now, I think an acceptable range for Seabron is between being drafted in the 50s or being a priority undrafted free-agent signing. Regardless, Seabron needs to spend at least a year on a two-way contract to hone his skills in the G League. Again, if Seabron can make those changes to his game, he can be another two-way contract success story. If not, Seabron may end up being one of those guys who is too good to be playing in the G League but not good enough to be playing in the league.