Sean Pedulla Scouting Report
The combination of shooting prowess and shifty handles gives Sean Pedulla the best odds to succeed in the NBA. But how much is his game suited for the next level? Here's all you must know about him:
Sean Pedulla (#3, Ole Miss): Senior, 6'1.75"
Combo Guard — Born: Oct 10, 2002 (22 years old)
Introduction
Pedulla earned All-SEC Third Team honors after scoring over fifteen points per game this last season. He’s simply one of the most productive guards in college basketball. However, college productivity does not equal NBA talent or lead to his game translating to the next level. You need more than that. For Pedulla, before Ole Miss, he came off three good years at Virginia Tech, earning All-Conference honors there as well. He gradually improved as a shooter, which earned him more on-ball reps and opened up the opportunity to lead a team in the historically good SEC conference by committing to Ole Miss.
The toughest part in evaluating guards is contextualizing ball touches. He’ll have the ball much less in the NBA compared to college. Therefore, it adds importance to be close to elite in must-have skills, such as consistent shooting, to even touch an NBA floor. This scouting report is not about how good Pedulla is as a college point guard, but how his game as a combo guard will translate to the NBA and how he can carve out a role for himself.
Physical Profile
At 6’1.75’ in shoes, Pedulla is undersized to play more than one position. He’ll be primarily a one in the NBA. At 199 pounds, he has average shoulders but has filled his frame decently throughout the years. The most essential part is his good core strength. Pedulla has good footwork and has mastered keeping balance and absorbing contact.
With a neutral wingspan at 6’2”, the lack of length is compensated by a high level of fundamentals and footwork, as mentioned earlier. He has quick hands and plays tough. That’s a must to stay on the floor in the NBA, considering his physical profile. With a slow first step, but good lateral quickness, there’s potential for Pedulla to get rid of the label of the undersized guard being a defensive liability.
Offense
Catch-and-shoot threes
At 39.2% on over six three-point attempts per game, Pedulla has shown consistency as a shooter on great volume. His gradual improvement throughout the years, combined with consistent shooting form, makes above-average shooting in the NBA feasible. Pedulla’s form will intrigue the NBA scouts, as he has the right process both off the catch and while shooting after one dribble.
In the first play below, Pedulla relocates to the strong side elbow, where he’s strongly pivoting with his right before throwing in his flexible hips with the spin move. The balance, combined with the high-arcing shot, is his M.O. and translatable to NBA sets where off-ball screeners are used to open up relocating spot-up shooters. The strength level makes him a volume shooter. However, the other side of the coin is that he has to lower the ball too far to power back up. But in this era of basketball, we see different shooting forms succeed. Despite it costing Pedulla some extra time to get his shot off, the high-arcing release makes up for it. The second play shows a good example.
It’s more feasible when considering how fast Pedulla sets his feet. The vital detail is that he’s placing them in a way where it’s possible that he can pump-fake and attack the closeout. However, for the NBA, team success is all about context. During the Portsmouth Invitational, Pedulla struggled to get his shot off. His peers knew how to guard him, as he was spinning right after the catch when relocating from the interior to the elbows or corners. The third and fourth plays show examples. Therefore, in the NBA, he must establish better shooting versatility in the types of threes he’s attempting.
Making plays out of closeouts
As the chart above shows, Pedulla has a 21.6% rate of getting an attempt at the rim. He’s not a comfortable downhill slasher and often settles for jumpers. That’s not the recipe NBA teams seek to sustain their offensive rating. A guard’s primary task in the NBA is to provide rim pressure. The intriguing part is Pedulla’s timing. He’s often using pump-fakes to create a driving angle. That’s smartly using his shooting prowess as gravity. Teams respect him as a stationary shooter, and this helps him to create windows to get downhill.
The first play shows an example where Pedulla has a good burst. However, the body control at the rim is not comparable to the comfort of how he’s keeping his balance on the perimeter while shooting threes. He’s not absorbing contact against stronger interior defenders. The shot selection is questionable as well. The second possession shows Pedulla coming right after the sideline out-of-bounds play, hitting the fake before blowing by his man at the elbow. With a wide-open path to the rim, there’s no need to settle for a midrange jumper and bail the defense out.
The intriguing part is that Pedulla looks more comfortable in a phone booth than in space. That’s the natural hooper in his game. The third play shows an example. He’s not overwhelming his defender with force, but the contact with the chest and his handles make it easy for Pedulla to create the finishing angle at the rim. That’s how he must create angles and space in the NBA. Considering how well Pedulla masters leveraging his shooting prowess, there’s a role as a closeout scorer and advantage creator in the NBA.
Pick-and-roll ball handling and shot-creation
Pick-and-roll ball handler. That’s the most common shot type in the NBA. For Pedulla, it’s not about the number of ball touches and on-ball reps but how well he can maximize his touches with advantage creation out of the pick-and-roll. His passing, playmaking, and self-creation are three must-haves to touch an NBA floor. Being a productive guard looks good on paper, but the other side of the coin is that NBA coaches expect an immediate impact on fewer touches and a role with strict boundaries. That’s the adjustment Pedulla has to make at the next level.
However, it’s feasible that he can grow into a backup guard. Pedulla shows good handles and a change of pace where he’s getting downhill with his craft while creating angles for him to pass or shoot out of. The other side of the coin is that Pedulla settles for too many jumpers, as he’s not physical enough to continuously bring it to the interior defense and finish at the rim through contact. The chart above shows that Pedulla is a neutral finisher from the midrange. However, the sample size is more valuable when he’s solely facing NBA talent. In the Portsmouth Invitational, Pedulla has shown his skill in using a change of pace and handles to create a shooting angle. The first two plays below show examples.
In the third possession, Pedulla shows how the spin move broke down the interior defense, creating a wide-open driving lane through the middle. When that’s the case, he’s more comfortable in attacking the rim. However, to succeed, Pedulla has to settle for shots less often. The fourth play is an example he can’t show much in the NBA. For NBA coaches, it’s essential to help Pedulla with his downhill drives and embrace physicality. There’s room for him to continue to add to his frame, as Pedulla’s game is on craft instead of speed or athleticism.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
At 3.8 assists per game, Pedulla posted a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. That’s a solid number considering the usage and ball touches he had to endure at Ole Miss. Playmaking is a must for an NBA guard. Shooting alone won’t make a difference. For Pedulla, his craft in utilizing his shooting prowess as a downhill driver and scorer helps him to execute passing reads as well. He’s good at finding tight passing windows and doesn’t shy away from making risky passes at times. That’s a positive attitude, as NBA scouts don’t care about live-ball turnovers where the read was difficult and the prospect shows fearless execution. Taking good care of the ball is essential, with a turnover rate of 13.2% as a senior, that’s a decent number considering the aforementioned offensive scoring load Pedulla has to carry.
Looking at Pedulla’s game, he’s not a natural playmaker. He’ll execute passing advantages via his pick-and-roll creation, but he’s often looking to execute simple reads. The positive part is that the difficult reads often come from him feeding vertical lob threats. In the NBA, that’s a majority of how teams sustain their offensive rating via the secondary unit. There’s more pressure for the ball handler to create easy looks for others. In the second play, Pedulla does well to strongly pivot with his right when gathering after slowing down off the screen. He hit the roll man with the high pass that led to the foul.
The part where he’s not a natural playmaker is seen in the third play below. He’s running the script of kicking the ball out when he can’t find the driving angle after coming off the screen. The pass wasn’t good and didn’t land in the shooter’s pocket. That’s a must for NBA standards. Regardless, Pedulla’s a good creator for others, especially in finding vertical lob threats with high passes after ball screen actions. The fourth play shows another example of his primary playmaking role at the next level.
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Defense
Pick-and-roll
Pedulla has a slow first step but shows promise with his lateral quickness. He’s embracing toughness and physicality, as he has no other option. He often has more explosive guards blow by him and struggles to effectively fight through screens. The screen navigation is decent, but he lacks the physicality to push himself through screens and doesn’t master the footwork to be agile and lean in creating cushions between the ball handler and the screener to curl or throw himself between both.
Pedulla does well to tag the drag screen early in the first play below. Hereafter, he could focus on sliding his feet, as it was imminent that the guard would attack the rim. However, the area of attention for Pedulla is due to the lack of burst and a reliable first step; he must stay at 180 degrees of his assignment instead of giving the strong side driving lane away. Another area of attention is that Pedulla is too reactive against opponents who are using jab steps and fakes. He should not get lured to leave the interior as he did in the second play below. The lack of speed trickles down to the effect of making it an uphill battle to stay in front of his man until he gets to the rim. The toughness and physicality can’t compensate for everything.
The lack of true strength is shown in the third play below. Pedulla recognizes the incoming screen as the ball handler rejects the ICE. The positioning shows good awareness, and he tried to curl off the screener as the ball handler attacked the strong side. That’s one of the red flags in Pedulla in helping to sustain an NBA team’s defensive rating.
Closing out
Pedulla recognizes angles well. That helps him to close out properly, as he’s actively seeking to guard at 180 degrees of his opponent. However, some issues must be addressed. Pedulla looks passive, and that’s costing him defensive rebounding. When opponents settle for threes or midrange shots, Pedulla tends to watch if a ball goes in rather than boxing out for the rebound. Despite averaging between three and four rebounds in the last three seasons, that’s not a good outlook. To help sustain a defensive rating, Pedulla must find ways to impact winning by improving the margins, and his battle to get more rebounds in his closeout defenses is one of the things he must improve.
The first play shows promise. Pedulla does well to pivot strongly with his right, as his assignment went toward the baseline. He slid his feet well, and that helped him to keep his balance easier when initiating contact. The toughness is a large part of him holding his ground. The only knock here is that he kept his hand up, but didn’t try to fully contest against the fadeaway jumper after successfully forcing his assignment to a difficult shot.
In the second possession, we see Pedulla closing out slightly away from 180 degrees. That’s because he followed the ball and did not focus on his assignment. Despite giving away the strong side, Pedulla shows a better shot contest on the pull-up jumper off the dribble. As described above, it’s vital for Pedulla not to get lured into leaving the interior. The third play shows an example. He doesn’t have the speed or burst to compensate for such mistakes. Considering his toughness, it helps Pedulla if he embraces a ‘beat me one-on-one’ approach in his closeouts; being too reactive bails ball handlers out and makes Pedulla more vulnerable to getting burned off the dribble.
Catch-and-shoot
Against spot-up shooters, we see a trickle-down effect of Pedulla often overhelping and often gambling on the open shooter to miss. That’s not a good sign for his chances of finding consistent NBA minutes. He’s playing tough, but that’s only compensating for a small portion. At times, it looks like the motor is the issue that makes Pedulla lean toward accepting he can’t close out a big difference between where he’s at and the perimeter shooter. This is caused by his overhelping and bailing opponents out, as he gives away easy kickout passes.
The first play shows an example of Pedulla gambling on getting attacked off the dribble. He keeps too much distance between the taller corner shooter, who opted to shoot over him. Hereafter, he looked passive in the defensive box-out. The second play shows an entirely different outlook. Pedulal found himself too far from the elbow but managed to effectively put a hand in the shooter’s face with long and quick strides.
However, it’s not consistent. The third possession shows Pedulla overhelping with two feet inside the paint. Hereafter, he again allows the corner shooter to take the three while watching the ball go in or not. Lowering the arms is a sign of a passive stance, which raises questions regarding his motor. The fourth play shows another example of Pedulla overhelping, where a teammate picked up the rotation. Regardless, a small portion of the context is Ole Miss immediately doubling after post-entry passes. That’s one of the consistent factors that came back. However, this doesn’t take away the entirety of the above-mentioned issues.
Defending away from the ball and against cutters
Pedulla’s not convincing NBA scouts with his off-ball defense. The main issue in his game is that he’s often randomly rotating or doubling inside the arc. With a lack of burst and a first step, Ole Miss was guilty of not using him properly on that end. However, the other side of the coin is Pedulla not showing any consistency in his rotations, nor the issue of overhelping. That’s a red flag in his profile.
The first play shows an example. Pedulla moves with the relocating play-finisher who established a presence in the paint to bank on a mismatch to ensure he’s getting the pass. But Pedulla makes it too easy for the scorer as he randomly doubles while there’s only one other teammate on the weak side. It’s understandable why Pedulla stayed with the ball handler picking up the dribble after coming off the screen in the second possession. However, Pedulla should have moved with the roller as he was positioned in the second line of the pick-and-roll possession. Playing the hedge with a wide-open interior is not a good decision.
However, one of the positives is Pedulla showing comfort when he’s solely guarding the perimeter. The third play shows him understanding the rotations and applying pressure while keeping the perimeter coverage intact. That’s led to the live-ball turnover by their opponents. His understanding of how to play passing lanes helped him to average 2.3 steals per game as a senior, where he ranked third in the entire SEC. In the last play below, Pedulla shows good awareness to cover the weak side, as he decently kept his assignment to him while the opponent crowded the strong side. His toughness and fearlessness were put on display by him throwing himself to the play-finisher, taking the big risk of being posterized. However, that didn’t stop him to try and deny the much taller interior presence. That’s the mindset he’ll carry to the next level.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Sean Pedulla to be undrafted. The bare minimum is for him to sign an Exhibit 10 contract, but many teams need depth at guard, where reliable shooting is the price they’ll be willing to pay for with a two-way contract.
I expect Pedulla, who had 20-plus workouts with the NBA teams, to land a two-way contract with a team after having a good summer thus far. He has a clear role with strict boundaries and looks like a good third guard for every depth chart.