Random NBA .GIF of the Day: The Growth of James Harden's Beard.

Money, Fame, and Facial Hair. Via: Reddit

This is... strangely hypnotizing.

Random NBA .GIF of the Day: James Harden USB Beard Drive.

TAKE MY MONEY. Via: Reddit

I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE. I WANT ONE.

I WANT ONE.

Chris Kaman shaved off his viking beard.

NOOOOO, WHYYY? Via: @Chris Kaman

Here lies Chris Kaman's majestic viking beard. We had a good run—presuming that he kept you even after the Dallas Mavericks broke .500. I really hope you enjoyed your second chance at life. May you find peace and return to roam freely on Chris Kaman's face in a month or so (how long does it take to actually grow a beard, asking for a friend, who is totally not me, because I definitely can grow a beard, but asking just to make sure).

Dirk Nowitzki finally shaves his beard.

There goes three months of hard work. Farewell glorious beard. You will be missed.

James Harden talks about his Majestic Beard.

So, it is pretty clear that we will never see James Harden beardless again. What ever happened to the innocent one.

SB Nation Arizona

He once walked the streets with a bare face,
Then puberty came to end those days.
He let his beard grow and grow,
Now he has no neck to show.

Notes: Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder [11/28/12]

Oklahoma City Thunder 120 - Houston Rockets 98

The Good

Thunder: They shot 54% from the field, everything fell into and through the hoop. Serge Ibaka's jump shot has noticeably improved, he went 11 of 13 for 23 points. Good Russell Westbrook showed up, he was somewhat under control (5 turnovers), his dribble penetration and usage of the screens makes the floor so much bigger for his teammates. The pick and roll tore up the porous Houston defense, Russ was given all the options. Depending the direction of the screener takes (in most cases, it is Serge Ibaka, but this works with Nick Collison too), he will read it and make the right decision. On top of that, Kevin Durant did the best Kevin Durant things, 37 points and got himself to the line.

On defense, they were in sync, their rotations can not be any better. The ball handler trap off the screen forced multiple turnovers. Every James Harden move was read to perfection, and prevented. He basically got blocked every time he tried his luck in the paint.

Rockets: Patrick Patterson (27 points) seems like a guy that can consistently help with the scoring load. He takes good shots and is decent in the low block. Omer Asik finally learned how to how to do a lay up, which will be useful in future. A sudden improvement in his offensive repertoire that goes under scouting reports can surprise a few teams.

The Bad

Thunder: I hate to say none, but they played a perfect game.

Rockets: The non-existent defense and bench play. They are mismatched in every position, Russ shattered Jeremy Lin and Kevin Durant torched any one within his parameter. On offense, they could not execute plays, once they get stuck in the OKC ball handler trap, they have already lost half of the shot clock. As a result, most shots came from isolations. They dribbled more than they passed and barely moved without the ball.

James Harden did try to do a lot on his own, and it obviously didn't work. He needs to get his teammates involved, or nothing will happen. Jeremy Lin is not quite ready to be a play maker, and with Russ draped all over him, his sub-par ball handling forced him to pass early. This team is still too young, they need time to develop and an answer to their identity crisis.

Kyrie Irving cuts his nails, reads, naps, eats, and shaves during a cinematic dunk.

Kyrie Irving decided to stray from the norm, and used his time wisely while in flight to a spectacular dunk. It is about time we get some change, I am sick of the same old slow motion dunk that always features a man maintaining an intense facial expression, never allowing his eyes to blink, enlarging his mouth/sticking his tongue out according to the distance, dramatic arm windings and the beads of sweat leaving him on the way to the rim. It is all played out, if Kyrie would have actually finished the dunk, it would have been the greatest dunk of all time. Unfortunately we will have to settle for the greatest lay up of all time.

The Round Up - November 2nd, 2012

Stats run down:

You might as well get use to this, James Harden is in the running for Kevin Durant's scoring title, putting up ridiculous numbers. He singled handedly ripped the wings off the Hawks, scoring a career high 45 points with only 19 shots, while grabbing 7 rebounds to go. It must be Movember right? That beard is in full effect. Oh, and he became the first person since Jordan (91 in 1986) to score more than 80 points in the first two games of the season.

Board Monster: Omer Asik doing just about the most Omer Asik thing ever, grabbing a total of 19 boards (9 offensive), and didn't even get a point.

Rookie Watch: Damian Lillard returns as the rookie of the night, with 21 points and 7 assists in a loss to the Thunder.

Butter Fingers: Kevin Durant just mishandling the ball, losing it 6 times, which makes him responsible for half of his team's total turnovers.

Time Machine User: Kobe Bryant scored 40 points in a loss to the Clippers and passed Magic Johnson as the Laker franchise leader in steals with 1,725. But age caught up with him after the game, requesting a walking boot to leeave the arena because he felt his foot was about to fall off.

Whoops: Austin Rivers "elbrowed" Anthony Davis in the temple and gave him a mild concussion.

Terrible Life Decisions: Lamar Odom has no hair, so he got tattoos on his head.

Tricks-Tricks: Pau Gasol wants to block Blake Griffin to get revenge on those dunks that will forever haunt him.

Winning Time: Charlotte Bobcats broke their 23 game losing streak tonight, led Kemba Walker, who put a dominating performance tonight, with a career high 30 points.

Best Play that didn't count: Jeff Teague don't care.

More Tricky-Tricks:
Jamal Crawford likes to dribble, so he will put you through a thousand dribble moves before he takes his shot, at least one of them will get you.

Kevin Durant is smooth with it.

Highlight of the Night: DeAndre Jordan is really long.

Game Winner: Apparently floaters win you games, and Greivis Vasquez got the memo.

Source: @cjzero

Halloween Basketball Round Up [10/31/12].

 Stats run down:

Remember when people doubted James Harden's ability to step into the spotlight? Well, He didn't do too bad in his new jersey, just adding himself into a piece of NBA History with 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 blocked shot. Which have only been accomplished by four players, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Dwyane Wade and himself in the past 25 seasons, no biggie.

Board Monster: Zach Randolph wiped the glass with 16 boards in a loss to the LA Clippers

Rookie Watch: Damian Lillard killed the Lakers with 23 points and 11 dimes, joining Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas as only players in NBA history with at least 20 points and 10 assists in NBA debut.

OverPAID: As a Canadian, I want the Raptors to do well, but sorry, Landry Fields. If you get a 3 year, 20 million deal, you have to do better than shooting 0 for 6, with 0 points and only 2 rebounds.

Butter fingers: DeAndre Jordan just dropping the ball, with 9 turnovers in a Clippers win.

Time Machine User: At age 36, the Big Fundamental still got it. Tim Duncan led the Spurs to victory with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Fans of the night: Very unlikely combo, but it's Halloween, who cares.

Highlight of the night: Aminu and his complicated first name, showing us that one hand is always better than two.

Game Winner: Stupid George Hill got off a floater with 2 seconds left in the game, spoiling Jonas Valaciunas's debut.

Sources:@afigman, @TrailBlazersPR, True Hoop

Breaking down of the James Harden Trade.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann from Getty Images

So long are the days of the beard flowing in the winds of Oklahoma city, and cue the sad but adorable YouTube videos of children crying. The internet exploded on Saturday night when Sam Presti traded James Harden (along with Cole Aldrich, Lazar Hayward and Daequan Cook) to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks (from Dallas and Toronto) and a second-round pick (from Charlotte).

Let's break this down.

For the Houston Rockets:
Daryl Morey finally gets his franchise guy in James Harden, and an opportunity to attract free agents to Space City. The re-building process post Yao Ming and T-Mac era can begin, and they have a lot of money to do so in the summer. The Rockets easily wins this trade, getting an All Star for an expiring contract of the unhappy Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb and a few draft picks. They are still unlikely to make the playoffs this year with this group, at least a path for the future has been laid down.

Houston should be worried about one thing though, James Harden has previously stated that he did not like to be the "MAN," a role he played in college and successfully grabbed the attention of NBA general managers. Harden is a young developing NBA star that improved statistically every year, but they were all done as the sixth man, behind the shadows of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. With that said, he actually plays better without those two on the floor, as a matter of fact, he played 464 minutes with neither Kevin Durant nor Russell Westbrook on the floor last season. 

He might have struggled in the NBA Finals last year, averaging 12.4 points and 3.0 assists per game on 37.5% shooting. Confidence should be brewing inside him now, coming back from a brutal beating by the Miami Heat and a gold medal at the Olympics, he should be more than prepared to step into the spotlight with his majestic facial hair.  

For the Oklahoma City Thunder:
This is a huge loss for Loud City, without James Harden, they lose an efficient scorer, a second unit leader that can orchestrate the offense while creating his own shots. Just how efficient is this man? He shot at a 49.1 field goal percentage last year, 70 percent at the rim and 39 from the three. Not to mention his play making ability, according to synergy sports he is ranked 9th in scoring efficiency as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, and a 19.3 assist percentage when he is in the game. His production is simply irreplaceable, OKC will likely never get someone as good as Harden and it might wind up as one of biggest regrets in Basketball history.

However, this is just a set back for the Thunder and they are still not out of contention for the Larry O' Brien Trophy. Chemistry within the team are without a doubt disrupted but they did get a fair deal in return and if Scott Brooks can put this together, be prepared to be surprised. Kevin Martin is a dynamic scorer who might have been under your radar for his entire career, because unfortunately, he plays for terrible teams. Through out the 10 seasons of his career, besides his rookie and sophomore year, he averaged 21.4 points a game at a 43 field goal percentage. He is near Harden in assist percentage at 14.5 and can draw fouls like a quarterback playing against Ndamukong Suh (wrong sport, but you get the reference).

The second unit will suffer without Harden, but Eric Maynor is back from his season ending knee injury. Maynor is a reliable back up point guard that might be able to run the offense in the beard's absence. He will be the key to make Martin fit in to this unit, and let's not forget OKC landed a few rookies with star potential. Perry Jones III and Jeremy Lamb are promising players and playing under the culture of this team, without having to worry about becoming the immediate franchise rescuers will be nothing less than beneficial.

If everything listed above does not work out, the Thunder can still afford to play Westbrook and Durant more minutes. Serge Ibaka is a developing offensive threat and giving Presti the Raptor's pick will more than likely make Morey regret it.

In my opinion, both teams made the best decision possible. The Rockets answered their desperate need for change and are finally ready to compete. It is fair to criticize the Thunder for not going to a last run at the championship with the beard and paying Perkins an undeserving contract, but for the future, they may have booked themselves a better scheduled appointment at another NBA Finals.

Sources: Picture,Yahoo! Sports, SB Nation, MySynergySports, Arizona, Hoopdata, Basketball Reference.

James Harden and Tony Parker surprise drop in at a local park.

This can not be more staged, I mean seriously, what kid cares about Tony Parker, especially when you had the beard right next to you. Also can this be any more of an unlikely pairing, an upcoming young star with an established veteran guard, weird. At least get Ginóbili, then we can get a mirror one on one match with ALL OF THE FLOPS.

Source: ShareATT on Youtube

It's Kevin Durant's Birthday and he is yearning for some Rihanna Lovin'.

Just Kevin Durant asking what every guy would want, right?

I see you KD, everyone wants some good lovin' on their birthday.

We all know how you can make it special, girl. He just wants to go downtown with a girl like you, and maybe you guys will find love in that hopeless place. Then one day, he might be da one you be dreamin bout all day, and he will always be standing under your umbrella. Don't break Kevin's heart by being unfaithful because he so ugly when he cries. He is not a rude boy that is into S&M, but he can make you feel like you are the only girl in the world. (See if you can find all the references.)

What makes this even better is that James Harden called him out and got mad jealous.

Way to go, Durantula, now there is no way the Beard one would stay.

Sources: @KDTrey5, @rihanna, @JHarden13