The Pelicans project to roster at least five guards vying for rotation minutes this season: CJ McCollum, Dyson Daniels, Kira Lewis, Jose Alvarado and Jordan Hawkins. That doesn’t leave much room for Dereon Seabron, one of New Orleans’ three two-way contract players. Though Seabron might not find a rotation spot with the Pelicans early, the 6’7 point arguably has the most offensive upside of the Pelicans’ slew of young guards.
Pressure at the Rim
It’s rare to find players as dynamic as Seabron attacking the basket and even rarer for those players to be as tall as he is. Seabron lives at the rim, blowing by defenders with his top tier speed and first step, finishing off drives with his long, swooping strides. Dating back to his time at NC State, Seabron attacks the rim at a historic rate. In his rookie year, he led all G League guards in rim attempts per game (9.2).
Rim pressure is a critical skill for any NBA creator and Seabron has unique potential in that area to generate easy shots for himself and for teammates. The passing is also solid; Seabron averaged 5.5 assists per game in the G League last year. He’s not a perfect passer but he makes simple reads in the pick-and-roll and can locate cutters when his drives collapse the defense.
Areas for Improvement
Seabron has holes in his creation game as most young guards do, notably his handle/pacing on drives. Cleaning up his handle will help limit turnovers and allow him to play with more pace, better picking his spots to weaponize his blazing speed. He’s not a great finisher either as his lack of strength and vertical explosion allow for defenses to recover and contest.
The jumper remains a question mark as despite Seabron’s solid 37.5% mark from three last year, he only shot 56 threes (2.1 per game). Over his two college seasons, Seabron only attempted 63 threes making 25.4% of them. Taking more threes will be critical for Seabron to draw more defensive attention and to slot in as more of an off-guard/wing in an NBA offense.
Despite all of Seabron’s current issues, he racked up 18.4 points a night without a great handle or jumper. When those aspects of his game improve, as well as improving consistency and effort on the defensive end, Seabron could find himself adding valuable scoring and rim pressure to an NBA rotation.
Immediate Future
In 2023-24, Seabron will likely spend most of his time in Birmingham gaining more experience and progressing as a handler, shooter and defender. Even if Dereon Seabron can’t make any noise for the Pelicans this season, he’s a notable piece of the Pelicans’ future and should be treated as such.
Written by contributor Ben Pfeifer.
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I see and agree with some of your points. But I don’t understand why he gets treated in a way he has to go work on his game in the G league, when imo his skill level is above Dyson. Why aren’t they sending Dyson down as well? He should be ahead of Dyson in the rotation at guard.
Funny, I actually think he is ahead of Kira, who has shown me zero ability to facilitate for others..and I love Seabron’s aggression