CHICAGO — Isaiah Whitehead hasn’t formally signed with an agent and has until May 25 to return to school, but the Seton Hall sophomore guard says he’s “100 percent” gone if he gets a promise to be chosen in the first round of next month’s NBA Draft.
“Oh yeah, 100 percent,” Whitehead said Thursday at the NBA Draft Combine after going for 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting with 5 assists, 3 rebounds and no turnovers in a 109-69 victory. “You can’t give up opportunities like that. I mean, when they tell you it’s time to go, you just gotta go.”
He added to SNY.tv: “And anybody at Seton Hall would have to agree with me. When they tell you that you’re a first-round pick, you can’t turn that down.”
The Brooklyn native is currently projected as the No. 65 best prospect in 2016 by DraftExpress.com, and as the No. 35 pick in 2017, but he’s hoping to impress here at the Combine.
“Definitely, I definitely want to be a first-round pick,” said Whitehead, 21 “But it depends on how I play in these workouts, to tell you the truth. If I play bad, I can’t expect anything. So I really gotta just keep grinding, keep getting better so when I get to these workouts, I can knock them out the park.”
He currently has workouts scheduled with Philadelphia (May 16), Indiana (18), Boston (20) and Chicago (23), with more likely to come.
Whitehead played solidly in front of Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard and a Who’s Who of NBA decision-makers, including Jerry West of the Warriors, Larry Bird of the Pacers, Jerry Colangelo of the Sixers, Sean Marks of the Nets, John Paxson of the Bulls, Danny Ainge of the Celtics, Darryl Morey of the Rockets and Bob Myers of the Warriors.
“I mean I walked into the Knicks meeting and I shook Allan Houston’s hand,” Whitehead said of one of his interviews. “That’s a blessing right there. He’s a great player and I was shell-shocked. I was kind of starstruck to really be in front of him and him ask me questions about me. That really was a blessing.”
(Knicks President Phil Jackson did not appear at the Combine on Thursday.)
Whitehead, who measured at 6-foot-4 1/2 with shoes, has met here with the Knicks, Nets, San Antonio, Golden State, Denver, Memphis, Philadelphia and Boston.
“I’ve met with about 10 teams and they all went great, so I’m happy about that,” he said.
He said he was surprised how much the teams knew about him.
“I definitely was shocked the way they looked deep, deep down to what you did in eighth or ninth grade,” he said. “That really surprised me a lot…They told me I got suspended in school in ninth grade and what happened? I mean, it caught me by surprise and that just shows me how much you have to be committed to the game.”
Whitehead said he leans on former Lincoln High School stars and current NBA guys Lance Stephenson and Sebastian Telfair for advice.
“I talk to Lance Stephenson a lot about the process,” he said. “I talk to Sebastian. I have a lot of people to talk to just because they came from my neighborhood and they went through the process. So I ask them a lot of questions about what this means and what that means, so I think that helps me out a lot.”
Willard made the trip to Chicago on Thursday and associate head coach Shaheen Holloway comes Friday to support their McDonald’s All-American.
“It’s exciting, someone from your program being represented with some of the best players in the world is really exciting,” Willard told SNY.tv. “I think he’s played great. He’s played under control. He’s been passing the ball well. I think on the defensive end, he’s moving his feet well and he’s playing off the ball.”
Whitehead was moved that his coach made the trip.
“When [Willard] called me and told me he was coming out there, I was very, very, very happy,” Whitehead said. “Just to look in the crowd and see him. It’s going to be a blessing just to see [Holloway] in the crowd and have him here to support me.”
Willard said it will help Seton Hall’s brand if Whitehead goes to the NBA — whether now or in 2017.
“He’s helped our brand immensely in the fact from where he came in as a freshman and where he is now in just two short years,” Willard said. “Obviously, getting a guy in the NBA would be phenomenal for us. It shows what we do with individual instruction, what we do being in the metro area…I’m very proud of the work he’s put in, I’m very proud of the situation he’s put himself in.”
If Seton Hall has to carry on without Whitehead next season, Willard believes they will still be strong.
“If he doesn’t come back, we got four starters who are sophomores who are going to be juniors,” he said. “We have guys who are going to have to take a step up. We have some freshmen coming in who are going to have to be ready to play, and we have some guys that are sitting out [guard Jevon Thomas becomes eligible at mid-semester] who have to get ready and fill big shoes.”
Whitehead said he believes the Pirates will be fine after making the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time in 10 years.
“I mean, they’re a great group, a whole bunch of sophomores,” he said. “I was a key part last year but even when I played bad they carried me. I think they’ll be a great group if I came back. I think they’ll be maybe even better if I didn’t just because they’ll come together as one and they wouldn’t lean on me as much so I think either way they’re going to be a decent team.”
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