Norris Cole, Please, Bring Back Your Hi-Top Fade

​Not many 6'2" rookies can manage to steal the spotlight away from a collection of future Hall of Famers in their second NBA game ever. Not many 28th place draft picks manage to be the main man responsible for saving the defending East Conference Champs from an embarrassing fourth quarter collapse against one of their fiercest rivals. Not many guys can come in off the bench and put up 20 points on a team that also includes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Not many players are Norris Cole. In fact, after his performance last night against the Boston Celtic, there's only thing the Heat rookie could do to make us love him more: hi-top fade.

If you saw last night's game then you know from Marv Albert and Steve Kerr's non-stop (well, deservedly so) talk about Cole that he was a standout with the Cleveland State University Vikings where he spent four years and actually got his degree (he was also his high school Salutatorian). He was named Horizon League player and defensive player of the year. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

What Marv and Steve didn't mention was that during the last part of his college career Cole was known for rocking one amazing hi-top fade.

via Cleveland Magazine

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via Cleveland Scene

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via Knicks Wall

​Aside from Brandon Jenning's brief experiment with the style, the NBA wouldn't have seen a fade this high since Patrick Ewing's younger days.

Alas, sometime between his days with the Vikes and the NBA draft Cole shaved the fade. What the what? Please, Norris, seriously think about growing it back.

Well, then again, when you're making an early impression like Cole's you don't need a fancy haircut, fly as it may be, to get you noticed.

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