Nets rookie Dariq Whitehead wouldn’t give specifics on his rehab from foot surgery or be pinned down to a timetable for his return to the court.
But with the team expecting Whitehead to be ready for the start of training camp, he hasn’t done or said anything to dampen those hopes.
The New Jersey-bred, first-round pick was walking among fans at Sunday’s Ticketmaster x Nets Plaza Party event at Barclays Center without a limp or a boot, and he insisted he’s progressing by the day.
“Rehab is going great. Foot feeling good. Definitely not trying to give it a definite timetable right now, just trying to take it day by day,” said Whitehead, a Newark native. “But everything’s feeling good, and just looking forward to approaching the season, getting back to 100 percent.”
The No. 2-ranked high school player while at Florida’s Montverde Academy, Whitehead had been expected to spend a year at Duke and become a lottery pick, perhaps even a top-five selection.
But foot woes slowed him and eventually required multiple surgeries, the last on June 7 as Nets foot specialist Dr. Martin O’Malley performed a revision operation with bone grafting for a fifth metatarsal Jones fracture.
“He will begin his rehab process in two weeks and should be ready for full participation at the start of NBA training camp,” O’Malley had said at the time.
The Nets drafted Whitehead No. 22 overall at the end of June, making him the youngest pick in franchise history at 18 years, 327 days old.
Whitehead obviously didn’t participate in Las Vegas Summer League since he was rehabbing.
But at this weekend’s event, he smiled when talking about having gotten out of his walking boot and added he’s making progress.
“Main thing is just making sure my foot is where it needs to be in order to progress day by day,” Whitehead said. “So like I said, I can’t definitely give a timetable on what’s going to happen. But we’ve been progressing at a great rate day by day, week by week.”
From the moment the Nets took Whitehead — reminiscent of their 2016 upside gamble on Caris LeVert — coach Jacque Vaughn has preached the importance of patience, not just the team’s patience with the young wing but from Whitehead himself.
“When you’re injured, you always have that urge to want to get out there and be out there on the court with the guys,” Whitehead said. “But that’s something coach Jacque has preached to me since the first day I stepped in the door, about it’s a marathon not a [sprint] race.
“So just knowing that I’ve got to be patient and take my time with it, and hearing that come from him, makes it a little more assuring that, alright, just take my time, get back to where I need to be, and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”
So Whitehead has focused on getting his foot 100 percent.
He joined the summer league team in Las Vegas, trading in playing games for playing cheerleader.
His teammates talked about how supportive he was from the bench, and Whitehead added he was “a sponge” absorbing knowledge from older players, noting how much faster the game was at the pro level.
“I think for him, it’s experience he’ll get when he [gets back],” said fellow rookie Noah Clowney. “I don’t know when he’s coming back … [but] when he gets practice in, he’ll hit. He’ll adjust quickly. He’s been playing at a high level for a long time.”
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