Red Storm 2014 Recruiting: Isaiah Whitehead

Isaiah Whitehead is NEXT.

Or so it seems. Lincoln High School's Tiny Morton seems to once again have on his squad a highly-regarded, highly-recruited young guard, joining the lineage of Lance Stephenson, Sebastian Telfair, and Stephon Marbury. Whitehead is considered more of a shooting guard than his ballin' predecessors.

And he didn't win his PSAL division's city championship as a freshman, so he has some ground to make up in catching up to their legends.

But he will become one of the most talked about players in New York basketball; is he up for the hype machine, the challenges of being New York City's Next Big Thing?

North Carolina's already on Whitehead, and St. John's coach Steve Lavin has spoken to Whitehead's mother Ericka Rambert to "to express his admiration for the 6-foot-4 Whitehead’s versatile skill set," as per Whitehead's recent NY Post article.

More, below the fold>>

(Photo from Middle School Elite)

From ESPN:

He is a big guard with a strong frame who can get to the rim east to west as well as he does north to south. Equally effective from the wing or attacking along the baseline, Whitehead attacks both sides and makes great use of a series of catch and go moves. He has good lift on his mid-range pull-up and comfortable range to about 18 feet although he can knock down the open three with needed time and space.

From an earlier article on Whitehead:

Morton said Whitehead is the team’s "glue guy," a rare reference for a freshman, because he listens intently and does whatever is needed, whether it’s rebounding, defending, distributing or scoring.

.... Making clear it’s simply a projection, he said Whitehead could be Lincoln’s greatest player, but in a subtle way. He doesn’t score like Stephenson, he isn’t flashy like Telfair and he isn’t the star Marbury was.

Whitehead (or someone who wants to capitalize on his future fame) already has an old-school looking Geocities-style website that squats on his name. It's a sure sign of future stardom; the domain owner will probably want money to relinquish the URL.