The list of elite New York City basketball prospects who play their high school basketball elsewhere is an endless list that grows every fall, helping to water down the once fertile ground of the five boroughs.
Coney Island, however, has yet to be infected. Isaiah Whitehead, a rising senior considered one of the nation's top prospects, has made certain of that.
Unlike other recent local stars, who switch schools or depart for prep school, Whitehead has spent his entire career at Lincoln, following in the famed footsteps of NBA players Lance Stephenson, Sebastian Telfair and Stephon Marbury.
In the past several years, the area's top prospects have migrated to prep schools such as South Kent (Conn), Brewster Academy (N.H.), Notre Dame Prep (Mass.), St. Benedict's Prep (N.J.), Oak Hill Academy (Va.) and Bridgton Academy (ME). Among the many players who have left are current NBA players Doron Lamb and Maurice Harkless, Cincinnati freshman Jermaine Lawrence and former Syracuse star James Southerland.
"There's distractions everywhere," Whitehead said, shooting down the reason many kids use for leaving the city. "There are girls everywhere, there are reporters everywhere, there are murders everywhere. There's really no excuse to leave New York City unless you really, really have to.
"It's to just shy away from the spotlight," added the standout shooting guard, who scored 16 points in Saturday night's "Big Strick Classic" at Gauchos Gym in The Bronx.
Team New York topped Team USA, 126-110 in the showcase for top high school prospects in honor of street-ball legend John "The Franchise" Strickland.
Whitehead, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard being recruited by St. John's, Minnesota, Georgetown, Miami, Syracuse, Arizona, Indiana and UCLA, does have what many other city prospects lack: a strong support system led by his mother, Ericka Rambert, who works for the MTA; her brother Warren, a construction worker; his coach, Dwayne "Tiny" Morton, who nurtured the development of Telfair and Stephenson; and AAU coach James Barrett.
Whitehead has become the face of New York City grass-roots basketball, an honor he has welcomed. He likes to talk about bringing New York City back, to "show it's not dead" and representing it well when he competes in one of the many showcases he takes part in.
Last night's event and the Elite 24, however, are even more important because they are in his backyard and featuring the nation's very best.
"Hopefully these national guys see it this weekend," he said. "We still have a couple of players who are actually good."
Whitehead is ranked among the top 20 in his class by virtually all the scouting services. He has been invited to the Elite 24 in two weeks — fellow local player, Chris McCullough of The Bronx, never has attended high school in the five boroughs — and likely will be included in the McDonald's All-American Game in April.
"[Whitehead's] about as good as anyone from the city since Lance [Stephenson]," talent evaluator Tom Konchalski said, referring to the Indiana Pacers guard.
Rambert said she saw a change in her son this past season. He stopped trying to live up to expectations set by Stephenson, Telfair and Marbury, stopped trying to equal their scoring output and championships and started just being himself. He began tuning out his detractors, the critics who said he paled in comparison to the previous Lincoln greats. The result was an elusive title.
"Instead of trying so hard, now he let the game come to him and everybody on the floor help him," Rambert said.
There were opportunities to go elsewhere, prep-school factories promised him the chance to play on national television with other elite prospects and offered him the chance at a less-pressurized high school experience.
"You have to finish what you started," Rambert said, "that's what I told Isaiah."
He has handled the attention with aplomb. He led Lincoln to a city championship last winter, he is in fine academic standing after taking summer courses before his sophomore year and has his pick of elite Division I programs.
It wasn't an easy process. There was hype attached to his name before his first day at Lincoln — media outlets already calling him the city's next great player. He didn't always see eye-to-eye with Morton, the Lincoln coach, and he failed to bring home the ultimate goal, a city title, to Coney Island his first two years. Leaving would have been understood, another great player seeking greener pastures.
That, however, never appealed to Whitehead. He liked the spotlight and taking the route others shunned. In that way, he has separated himself from the pack, perhaps establishing a new path.
zbraziller@nypost.com
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