Basketball players are full of all sorts of dirty tricks to help them gain even the slightest advantage in a game. Some players – usually defensive specialists – will cut their nails a certain way so as to scratch their match up. Bigs will often grab their opponent’s hand to prevent them from closing out on a shooter, and those “inadvertent” elbows we see swinging all over the place aren’t as inadvertent as you think.
Jeremy Lin has perfected this craft, because his trick also doubles as an awesome fashion statement. It’s functional and stylish. He can poke an opponent in the eye, like he does here to Jerryd Bayless, and look good while doing it. Of course, Lin says his spiked hair has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with his friends. As he told Ananth Pandian of CBS Sports:
“I’m growing it out with some friends,” Lin told CBS Sports. “There are seven of us that are doing the same hair style and right now we are in the middle phase. You gotta do something with it, so that’s why I spike it up now. It’s not what I’m going for. It’s not the final product. It wasn’t like one day I want to do that [his current look], it just kind of came about.”
Sure, we believe you Jeremy. It’s only a coincidence that your razor sharp hair is a threat to every player guarding you.
