The entire Rockets coaching staff forgot how to shake hands
Sometimes good handshakes go bad. Normally we see this on the court of field. Two players are so amped up and concentration on the game that someone gets left hanging, the high five is awkward — the list goes on.
Mike D’Antoni and the Rockets coaching staff took this to a new level on Sunday night in China where the Houston Rockets were playing the Shanghai Sharks. A lot went wrong.
Assistant coach Roy Rogers reaches out for a high five and gets met with a weird limp handshake. He does the best he can.
D’Antoni is key here. He is intently observing what happened. In front of him he is presented with two handshake options, the traditional handshake and the high five. Handshake, high five. The repetition is important here. Keep it in your head. Handshake, high five.
D’Antoni selects option three.
He puts out a fist, as if he thought the handshake he just watched was a game of rock, paper, scissors, and he discovered a trump card. Even if he was going for the fist bump he raised his hand at the most awkward angle and applies no downward movement.
Rogers is left to shake D’Antoni’s wrist.
The poor guy. Not once, but twice he’s tried to shake the hands of his fellow coaches and gotten met with terrible handshakes. Rogers’ face says it all after finally breaking away from D’Antoni.
THE THIRD SHAKER
There is a third handshake that happens at the end. After a brief moment a fist shoots in from the left to Rodgers.
Rogers barely gives it the dignity of an attempt. He shoots out his hand and kind of slaps at it, but misses.
What did we learn?
A good team needs to be on the same page. Whether that’s on the court or in the boardroom. Developing an atmosphere of team play is difficult, but understanding you employees could the difference between a solid, morale-boosting greeting and a limp handshake where you’re grasping someone’s forearm.
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