After being dealt to Houston last week, James Harden has gone down to Texas and kicked all kinds of ass. He's averaging 35 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds per game so far this season (obviously the scoring numbers will probably regress, but not too far). He and Jeremy Lin look like they were made for each other. He's almost instantaneously captured the imagination of Texas' largest city. And what happens when you capture people's imaginations? You inspire art.
Art like that beautiful photo above. That is the back of some brave Rockets fan's head, but now it's so much more than that. It's a mixed media (hair/paint) piece that is better than anything I've ever seen at a museum. It's a monument to Daryl Morey's spreadsheets. A tribute to the suffering of the post-Yao years. A remedy designed to erase any memory of Steve Francis existing. It's insane. It's perfect.
The young lad who allowed this to be done to him is apparently a member of a Rockets fan group called The Red Rowdies. I hope the team is throwing them some tickets, because I can't imagine his boss enjoys seeing James Harden looking out from this guy's cubicle every day, and nothing comforts someone dealing with being fired quite like free stuff.
This photo also raises two important questions:
For comparison's sake:
