Cavs: The Halloween Party

Prince James… Karaoke MVP

There’s nothing like a Halloween party to get people out of their shells and invite them to cut loose with costumes, dancing, and the occasional legendary karaoke performance. Thanks to LeBron James, the Cavs got the opportunity to be collectively creative with their Halloween celebrations last night as The King (or in this case, Prince) threw an epic bash for his friends and teammates. In fact, the host himself went “All In” on his own costume, donning full Prince regalia (complete with frilly blouse, purple jacket, jheri curl, sunglasses and a white guitar), and getting on stage to perform a medley of the Purple One’s greatest hits.

It was just the kind of evening you might expect to see from a group of close friends. What’s remarkable, is that they all happen to be the members of a professional basketball team… and from the looks of it, they may already be one of the closest knit squads in the entire NBA.

Though we only had the Instagram and Twitter feeds of Mo Gotti, KLove and LeBron to get the skinny on the festivities, we can see that at one point during LePrince’s rendition of “When Doves Cry,” he was joined by several background dancers including Kyrie Irving as a Jedi, Kevin Love as Jackie Moon from “Semi Pro,” J.R. Smith as a baby, Jared Cunningham as a Minion and Iman Shumpert in drag as Lollipop from the movie “Friday After Next.”

https://instagram.com/p/9h42R2nfWO/?taken-by=mogotti25

And, presumably somewhere between all the karaoke, dancing and perhaps bobbing for apples… almost all of the Cavs got together for the group shot below, which also featured Andy Varejao as either a war boy from “Mad Max: Thunder Road” or a Day of the Dead parade participant, Tristan Thompson as Clark Kent/Superman, Matthew Dellavedova as a doctor and Joe Harris as the infamous tiger killing dentist, Walter Palmer.

The only Cavs missing (unless one of them was underneath the wolf mask in the back), were Timofey Mozgov, Sasha Kaun, Richard Jefferson and James Jones. Russia only started officially celebrating Halloween in the 1990s, so it’s possible that Moz and Sasha aren’t all that big on the holiday. And both RJ and JFJ are the senior citizens of this Cavs team, so this party might have been past their bedtimes.

Your Cleveland Cavaliers!

We do know that there was a contest for best costume given out at some point. And, since it would probably be bad form for the host to win (despite looking pretty fly), LePrince most likely took himself out of the running. That left the trophy in the capable hands of one Jackie Moon (aka Kevin Love) who became the focal point of the evening (I’m guessing) in his Flint Tropics uni and headband, as he walked away with the hardware.

Though I wasn’t there (thanks for the invite, Prince), I thought it would be fun to judge the Cavs’ costumes for myself, using the criteria of originality, authenticity and particular fit with the wearer’s personality. Follow along… and judge for yourself.

Purple Reign

https://instagram.com/p/9h1J5lHfdv/?taken-by=mogotti25

LeBron went old school cool, pulling out all of the stops with his Prince outfit. But, he didn’t stop there. LBJ did his best to actually channel the Prince of funk… busting out some badass karaoke and even trying some licks with his white electric guitar. With this costume, he also revealed exactly why he’d been growing his 80s style stache for the past couple of weeks. This choice was bold, super funky, hilarious (in a good way), and his performance was authentic enough to get props from the man himself (or at least whoever runs his official Twitter feed or Prince-tagram)…

LEBRON JAMES: ROCK STARhttps://t.co/1q2G9nL8DP https://t.co/yfZOYMsm5X

— Prince (@prnlegacy) November 2, 2015

Even though the host was ineligible for the best costume trophy, The King as Prince gets a big thumbs up from me. Not to mention that the singing was actually pretty darn good. Grade: A+

Love Me Sexy

https://instagram.com/p/9h4YinM9y_/?taken-by=kevinlove

The mystery of why Kevin Love decided to grow his hair out into an unruly semi-permed mop might just have been answered on Halloween night. And, after shaving his beard down to more of a 70s style Semi-Pro style, then donning an authentic Flint Tropics uniform and headband, KLove was ready to do the full Jackie Moon. After he won the trophy for best costume, he reportedly shouted “ELE! Everybody love everybody!” and then walked away screaming “I’m so excited, I can’t feel my arms!”

I give kudos to Kevin for not only finding a pop culture Power Forward to emulate as a source of comedic costume inspiration, but also for locating threads that were right out of the movie (he literally must have gotten them from wardrobe at New Line Cinema, or called up Will Ferrell himself). However, I would deduct a few points since Jackie Moon never sported facial hair of any kind. Grade: A

Return of the Jedi

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The force is strong in this young Jedi, and it was awesome just to see Kyrie joining in on the festivities. He even looked pretty good up on stage as a backup dancer (just be careful with the knee Ky!). Mad respect for the detail in Kyrie’s jedi get-up, as he not only got the layers, but also included the hood, boots and lightsaber. Definitely feels more Obi-Wan than Luke here, so maybe he should have gone with the Uncle Drew hair and makeup as well. The overall effect is fitting though, as Kyrie has become such a master with his handle that it almost looks like he can control the ball with his mind. Only other points off is that the Cavs do already have a Jedi in their service (Cedi the Jedi in Turkey), so it’s a little played. Grade: A-

Bottle Service

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Leave it to J.R. to steal the show with his self-effacing costume. Dressing up like a giant baby, complete with bonnet, cry-baby bib, pacifier, bottle and diaper takes either a lot of guts or a lot of alcohol (hopefully someone checked to see what was really in that bottle). J.R. certainly doesn’t seem to be a cry baby on the court (even though he’d have good reason to so far this year with the phantom foul calls he’s gotten against him), but it’s great to see him having a blast like this. I’m also glad he decided to go with a onesie under the diaper (when I was a kid, my dad went to a Halloween party dressed as a baby, but without a onesie… embarrassment ensued). J.R. could also have easily gone in construction gear and a hardhat to play off his “pipe laying” reputation, but the baby get-up was fitting and cool. Grade: A- (but A+ if he actually did have some adult beverage in that bottle).

Freddy’s Dead

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Gotta hand it to Mo for being Gotti-on-the-spot with the social media feeds to bring us the majority of these images and video from the party. Unfortunately, though, Mo went fairly pedestrian with his Freddy Kruger costume with just a rubber mask, hat and striped sweater. Mo didn’t even break out Freddy’s trademark razor-finger gloves (although, in fairness, they might have been less than appropriate for this kind of party). I would have loved to see Mo channel his inner Gotti and dress up like an old time gangster from the old country, making offers that people couldn’t refuse. Not really sure how Freddy connects with Mo, although Freddy does live in dreams… and Mo has often said it’s a dream to be back with the Cavs (okay, now I’m just stretching it…). Still, his caption on his Instagram post is both hilarious and kinda messed up all at once. Grade: B-

Paging Dr. Delly

Happy #Halloween from the Tooth Fairy and the dentist pic.twitter.com/7REQ24F8IZ

— Matthew Dellavedova (@matthewdelly) November 1, 2015

100 cc’s of hustle… stat! Okay, Delly didn’t exactly go with a breakout costume here, but I’ll cut him at least a little slack since he’s probably celebrated Halloween a lot less than the rest of us. Scrubs are a pretty easy thing to throw together, although Delly does go the extra mile here with the mask and hat. He might have spruced things up a bit with some fake arterial spray across the front of his outfit, though that probably wouldn’t have gone well with his tooth fairy girlfriend. Delly might have been better suited with something more befitting his Australian heritage (maybe a dingo who could make off with J.R. baby, or a wombat, or a jar of Vegemite), or with some kind of deli tray get-up. Overall, a bit uninspired, but if he continues to improve his surgical approach to running the offense when he’s on the court, he might ultimately justify this outfit. Grade: C+

What A Lovely Day!

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I couldn’t decide if Andy was going for a war boy in Mad Max look, or more of a Day of the Dead reveler from his native Brazil. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was probably the latter (especially given how his companion was made up). He would have also needed to either shave his head (or go with a bald cap), darken the eyes and spray his mouth silver to really pull off the war boy look anyway. While I commend AV for taking the time required for the intricate face painting, it’s pretty much the extent of his costume. It’s great to see him showing homeland pride, but just not sure how it ties into his persona otherwise. The obvious go-to costume would have been Side-show Bob from the Simpsons, or the other “Wild Thing” Ricky Vaughn from Major League. Still, Andy does get a couple of extra points for at least matching his companion. Grade: C

The Lollipop Kid

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Going in drag is an age old staple of Halloween costumes… but going in drag as a hooker (even from a movie) takes some intestinal fortitude. Forget Shump’s pink cast… he had the whole pink outfit working at this party. From his furry pink hat down to his pink fishnet tights, Iman successfully re-created the look of Pinky’s girl Lollipop from the movie “Friday After Next.” Maybe it’s one of his favorite movies… or maybe it’s one of his girl Teyana Taylor’s favorite movies (especially since she also went in drag as Pinky the pimp). Either way, Shump gets points for not playing it safe. However, dressing up as a relatively obscure pop culture reference (and not even a character from the best and original “Friday” movie), and without much of a discernible connection to one’s persona (I would have loved a Kid’n’Play or Fresh Prince take) doesn’t move the needle as much. Grade: B

Man of Steel

I couldn’t find a close up shot of TT in his Clark Kent/Superman get-up, but if you look closely at the top left corner of the team photo, you can see the Cavs’ own “man of steel” just to the right of Andy. Another relatively easy to put together costume, although I did like the duality of the Clark Kent becoming Superman thematic. TT also looks like he invested in a wig and some glasses for accents. What I wouldn’t give to have seen Canadian Dynamite go full on Dudley Do Right mountie (he’s already probably got the hat for it), although he’d undoubtedly get mistaken for Pharrell.

As far as general themes are concerned, portraying the Man of Steel, given TT’s long-standing durability is not a bad way to go. Grade: B

Just A Minion

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— JC (@J1Flight) November 1, 2015

Jared Cunningham probably doesn’t read this blog… but he probably should. If he did, he would have long since realized that his new given nickname is Much Danger Ninja, and would have dressed accordingly to this party. I was so disappointed to see MDN resort to such a child-like costume as a Minion from “Despicable Me” or “Minions” when he could have easily stolen the show with an all black get-up, throwing stars and a katana. Oh well… there’s always next year, Jared. Grade: D

The Lion Hunter

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Okay Smokin’ Joe… I get that you’re at the end of the Cavs’ bench, so you feel like you needed a costume that would get you noticed, and get people talking about how current your outfit is. However, going as the reviled dentist who hunted and killed poor Cecil the lion, and making your girlfriend dress as said lion, is a rough conversation starter (at least you didn’t go as Jared Fogle). I suppose like Walter Palmer, you do know how to shoot… but also like him, people aren’t exactly thrilled with the outcome. At least you’re less likely to have protestors waiting for you outside the Q following a rough performance. Sorry Joe, this one just wasn’t for me. Grade: A for effort, but F for awareness and execution

Happy Halloween Cavs fans!