The mop of curls has flattened but the facial hair growth is definitely more lush.
Blink and the chances are you may miss that hint of a swagger, too, in Everard Bartlett's strut.
The 26-year-old, sporting an Air Jordan T-shirt, seems a little taller than his 1.91m suggests, but if you ask any basketballer who returns after each season he will tell you he's had an inexplicable growth spurt, thanks to the alignment of his ancestors' X and Y chromosomes.
Undeniably, though, Bartlett has returned to preen his feathers with the HBS Bank Hawks again this summer after a winter of wilderness when he migrated north to the Auckland Pirates because of miscommunication.
All that is water under the bridge as the utility guard exudes a degree of confidence and maturity only elite players emit when they have transcended to a higher echelon.
"As a player you get older and you develop and your IQ and knowledge of the game also gets better," Bartlett says before tomorrow night's round-five match against the Nelson Giants in Napier.
His importance is underlined by the fact that coach Paul Henare has put him straight into the starting five with shooting guard Damion Davies retreating to the bench at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Taradale for the 7pm tip off.
The undefeated Hawks are carrying a few niggles with young forward Morgan Natanahira nursing an ankle injury from the last round and American import centre Kareem Johnson battling influenza.
Henare expects the Phill Jones-captained Giants, sitting fourth on the Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) table, to be a handful despite one loss to date this season.
"Their second import, Mike Harrison, I've read in reports, will be here and probably starting against us. He's six-foot-nine and a utility forward who can be a small forward or a power forward," Henare says but Giants coach Chris Tupu wasn't in a position to confirm his recent arrival's status, let alone name his starting five.
"We're expecting him from the [United] States via Cyprus, but he's in transit right now so we might get him or we might not," a circumspect Tupu said.
Nevertheless, Bartlett reveals his confidence is where it should be after his recent stint halfway through the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) season with the Adelaide 36ers, the former franchise of Hawks skipper Paora Winitana.
"It's great to be back. I'm now classed as a veteran here in a team of good local talent such as Alonzo Burton and Ezra Nikora," he says with a grin, mindful only a few seasons ago he had started his fledgling career looking up to Winitana and Henare, who were co-captains and instrumental in the Hawks' only NBL title in 2006 under Australian coach Shawn Dennis.
"It's a step up for me and I want to be a mentor to the younger guys," Bartlett says, happy to assume the mental of a senior player and looking forward to the challenge of becoming a co-leader with the likes of Winitana, veteran US import Galen Young, Aidan Daly, Ben Hill, Jarrod Kenny and Johnson.
Bartlett has been training with the Perth Wildcats since 2010-11, thanks to Dennis who left here to become assistant coach under Rob Beveridge.
It did help that Bartlett's wife, Lillian, of Taupo, had transferred to Perth as an employee of Ravensdown Fertilisers.
"Shawn invited me to train in the pre-season and head coach Bevo [Beveridge] gave me the nod to stay on because he liked where my skills were at," he says, delighted with his development the entire season but ruing not getting on the court for the Wildcats.
However, late last year an injury put Perth guard Damian Martin out for six games and Bartlett got the break he desperately needed.
"I did well and led in the ANBL three-point percentage."
Unfortunately, when Martin returned, the Hastings-born player found himself on the fringes again, requiring a full contract because he had simply filled in for an injured player, according to ANBL rules.
"It's a weird situation," he says at the Top-10 Kennedy Park Resort, in Napier, where he's living while waiting to find a home so he and Lillian can settle with their 4-year-old son, Haziley.
As luck would have it, 36er point guard Nathan Crosswell picked up an achilles heel injury and Bartlett secured a full-time contract for the remainder of the ANBL season with the Adelaide franchise.
"It was great of the Wildcats to release me because all Bevo and the guys wanted the opportunity for me to play," he said, returning late on Wednesday night after the 36ers missed out on the ANBL play-offs.
He is optimistic Adelaide will offer him another opportunity next season.
"I know the processes from the top to bottom now and a lot more coaches know me so fingers crossed," says the man who was named runner-up as the ANBL Rookie of the Year this season.
"I trained and prepared so much and I took full advantage of the situation but sometimes people don't train and get the opportunity but don't grab it because they haven't prepared well enough for it," Bartlett says.
It's not lost on Bartlett that only two seasons ago he was the only noteworthy Bay-born player in the Hawks squad, considering there were half a dozen when he started his career.
"I'm just excited to be back here with my people, processes and my mates," he says after his first training with the boys last night.
Accepting he's just a cog in a wheel that his turning with aplomb under Henare and co-coaches Willie Burton and Kirstin Taylor, Bartlett endeavours to fit into that matrix.
"It's up to Paulie because he knows what I can bring to the table in terms of my talent and skills."
So is the upgraded Bartlett hybrid likely to shimmy, fly and dunk like the younger model.
"That's my type of play and it's up tempo - fast play and open play, using my athleticism.
"In saying that it isn't so much more kamikaze like. You know, when you are younger you go with your enthusiasm and you can go overboard like a head-less chook," he says, revealing he's much calmer now and more controlled and understanding when it takes to the court.
The former Irongate School pupil, who has done his time through the spin-dry cycle of a sport that has resembled that cyclic ebb and flow over the seasons, attributes a lot of those qualities to time spent with the leaders of the Wildcats.
Bartlett, inarguably, found himself saddled with the task of becoming the Bay flagbearer when he last played here two winters ago in province yearning for the halcyon days of the Paora and Paulie era.
Still raw in those days, it was always going to be a daunting task for anyone to fill the former Tall Blacks' boots, let alone Bartlett.
Bartlett also dealt with the frustrations and disappointments of the "nearly kid", that is if the Tall Blacks didn't simply overlook him for an international tour of duty.
For a player who has has clocked two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers, he believes the defending champions, who Henare led to a historic title last season, are very physical in their approach to the game.
"Everyone knows that so we just have to deal with the physicality of a team who can also shoot the ball very well," he says and also of the belief that the Breakers will play the Wildcats in the final.
"It'll be a great game because they are both physical and look like the favourites."