INDEPENDENCE: When it comes to the Cavaliers’ intricate, personalized handshakes, creativity thrives on the throne.
At least for Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson.
The pregame ritual has been the Cavs’ signature since LeBron James and Damon Jones cooked it up during James’ rookie year in 2004. Coach Tyronn Lue watches and longs for the day when the Cavs are as adept at recalling some defensive schemes as they are at remembering each greeting.
“I don’t know where they come [up] with all of that stuff,” Lue said last week.
He might wish he hadn’t asked.
“We all just go home and maybe sit on the toilet and figure out how we can be creative,” Thompson said. “It’s a battle of who can have the coolest handshakes.”
Lue may also be distressed to learn that it takes little practice for the Cavs to memorize each one.
“It’s one simple thing. We’ll come up with a hand sign or something that we relate to, or a sound or something, and we’ll work on it twice and then on to it,” Kyrie Irving said.
Handshakes have become part of the league’s allure. In February 2016, the website stack.com rated the NBA’s top 10, with J.R. Smith and Kevin Love skipping together No. 3 and James mimicking Iman Shumpert’s tall fade hairstyle No. 5.
As James told Cleveland.com in 2015, “Once you get it down, it becomes like brushing your teeth every day.”
During his first stint with the Cavs, James also pretended to be a photographer and snapped a team picture, a practice he did not resume when he returned to Cleveland from the Miami Heat in 2014.
Love was playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2009-10 when he was struck by the Cavs’ Mo Williams and Shaquille O’Neal pretending to bowl in their ritual.
“They were taking the photos, that sort of thing. I think that evolved,” Love said. “Miami kind of made it cool, and it was adopted and brought here by LeBron and then it’s evolved.
“Everybody has their own shake and their own way of expressing themselves that way. It’s just part of who we are.”
When Dahntay Jones rejoined the team on April 12 after being out of the league since the Cavs captured the 2016 championship, Jones didn’t struggle to remember his handshakes.
“It looked like he never missed a beat,” Lue said.
Andrew Bogut, who broke his leg 58 seconds into his Cavs debut on March 6, wasn’t around long enough to participate, but Love speculated, “It would be something Australian … It’s too bad.”
Irving, 25, said handshakes were part of his basketball career even before he got to the NBA in 2011.
“Coming up through middle school, high school, college, and now in the NBA, I’ve had handshakes with my teammates,” Irving said. “That’s just a thing that I’ve always done. And to this day, most of my handshakes with my best friends since high school are still the same. Some of my teammates that I’ve played high school basketball or college with, we started with the same handshake. It’s just a continuous thing.”
But Irving said some Cavs come up with new ones for each season.
“Or some guys shorten them up. I shorten mine up a few times,” he said.
While some might guess James is the handshake ringleader, Thompson said that role belongs to Shumpert.
“I think Shump has coordinated most of his handshakes with everyone,” Thompson said. “He’s the one that picks it for all the guys that he has a handshake with. Shump is very creative. You guys can tell.”
Love said when Edy Tavares signed with the Cavs from Toronto’s D-League affiliate on April 12, he got the handshakes down quickly.
“It’s funny. You never see guys shying away from it. They may embrace it,” Love said. “It’s part of our culture here, part of who we are. It just shows you that we’re close-knit, we’re a tight group.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.