ALL THE RAGE

Break out the love beads and lava lamps, ‘70s chic is back!

No, no, no, not the bell-bottoms, polyester shirts and platform shoes the youngsters love so much these days. We’re talking about the hip hoopsters.

NBA and college players are taking it to the hole in headbands and knocking down jumpers with socks pulled up to their knees. They’re growing out their hair, wearing big, bushy Afros and long, shaggy hippie ‘dos.

What’s next, the return of the short shorts? Far out, man.

“Fashion and expression goes in cycles,” said Dallas Mavericks guard Steve Nash, whose once close-cropped hair now flows wild and free, flopping up and down as he runs the court.

“One of our biggest influences is the past, so I’m not surprised.”

The 1970s were a wild time when it came to fashion. Just look at the old pictures. There was Artis Gilmore wearing his Afro so high it practically touched the rim as he played with that groovy red-white-and-blue ball in the ABA, and later in the NBA. Bill Walton had long, woolly hair better suited for the Haight-Ashbury than the hardwood. Slick Watts wore a green headband around his bald head.

And that was just on the court. How ‘bout those funky outfits players wore when they left the locker room? The lime-green suits with extra-fat lapels, the fur coats and the purple, wide-brimmed felt hats, a la Walt Frazier.

But times and styles change, and a cleaner, crisper look came into vogue as the ‘80s gave way to the ‘90s. The sweatbands and headbands disappeared. Hair got shorter. When Michael Jordan shaved his head and Michigan’s Fab Five broke out the baggy shorts and black socks, new trends began.

Then, in the last year or two, something strange began happening. Kobe Bryant, he of the bald head when he broke into the league, let his hair grow and started wearing an Afro. Southern Methodist standout Jeryl Sasser did Bryant one better, growing his hair out AND pulling his socks up when he was a sophomore.

Outta sight.

“Michael Jordan created the era of bald heads and low socks, and no disrespect to him because he’s one of my favorite players of all time, but I like to be my own person,” said Sasser, now a senior. “So I did the opposite and grew out my hair and wore my socks high.”

Slowly, the retro look spread. People might not have known Jamal Crawford’s name when he was at Michigan last year, but they knew his headband. The 20-year-old Crawford grew up in Seattle and started wearing his headband to emulate Watts--despite the fact he wasn’t even born when Watts was in his heyday with the Sonics.

“It just looked pretty cool and nobody was really doing it,” said Crawford, now a Chicago Bulls rookie.

This year, it seems everybody’s going retro. Chris Webber, Gary Payton and Shaquille O’Neal, who’ve been bald for years, are sporting hair.

“I was just trying something a little different,” Webber said. “Styles change.”

Arizona senior Gene Edgerson has an Afro big enough to rival Gilmore’s. Moochie Norris of the Houston Rockets has a ‘fro so pretty Time magazine featured it. There are so many players sporting Afros these days that Sasser cut his hair short last year and now wears it in cornrows.

Cherokee Parks had the hippie chic thing going when he was with the Washington Wizards, wearing his hair long, parted in the middle and kept in place with a headband. And Dallas Maverick forward Dirk Nowitzki’s hair is so shaggy he could be one of Jeff Spicoli’s buddies in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

“I’m just trying to mix it up once in a while. Just try something different,” said Nowitzki, who had long hair when he was growing up in Germany. “I’m not a fashion guy. Not at all.”

Then there are the headbands. Once reserved for the likes of Cliff Robinson and Chris Gatling, entire teams now wear them. The Clippers hold the honor of the All-Headband Team, with Darius Miles, Lamar Odom, Quentin Richardson, Keyon Dooling and Jeff McInnis all wearing them.

The Charlotte Hornets are a close second, with Baron Davis, Eddie Robinson and Lee Nailon sportin’ bands.

“When I’m sitting at home watching TV and see a skinny kid running around with a headband, it makes me think they’re showing old clips of me or something,” said Watts, who still has a few of his old ones around and wears them when he plays tennis.

“It’s kind of cute. It’s fun.”

There’s just one thing about this retro trend Watts doesn’t like.

“You have to have game. There’s nothing more aggravating than seeing a guy wearing a headband and shooting airballs,” he said. “If you’re going to make a statement, you’ve got to bring your lunch.”