The Miami Heat have gotten off to a slow start to Giannis Antetokounmpo's first season in south Florida, which has led to plenty of discussion about Antetokounmpo's fit with Bam Adebayo and the challenges of building around Giannis.
Among those to chime in on the topic is Antetokounmpo's former coach, Doc Rivers, who struggled to get the most out of the star in Milwaukee and never got Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on the same page. Rivers recently offered some critiques of Antetokounmpo, noting he's a difficult star to coach because of his play style and a defiance about changing how he plays.
On Sunday, after the Heat beat the Kings, Antetokounmpo was taken aback when asked about the comments by his former coach.
"You have his number, right? You do. I know you do. You gotta go ask him why he thought that; that's on him," Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. "That's not on me. I gotta focus on my team and what I gotta do and how can I be better and how can I help the team. But like, goddamn. That's crazy. Never let bitterness and pettiness get in front of your goals and dreams, man. For every athlete out there, never let that [happen]. That's insane, but you gotta go ask him why he said what he said. Not me."
Rivers' tenure in Milwaukee was a disaster: he took over for Adrian Griffin in the middle of the 2023-24 season with the Bucks 30-13 and proceeded to go 97-103 in his three years with the Bucks. Given Rivers' history of shifting blame, Antetokounmpo can more easily brush aside his critique as Doc once again finding someone else to blame for his team's shortcomings.
However, while Rivers might not be an infallible messenger, he did have some interesting comments about the challenge of coaching Antetokounmpo this week on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
"He has this great passing ability, but he doesn't necessarily have super IQ at the same time," Rivers said. "It's really a strange thing. And he really has one way. Downhill, forceful. Every play, he wants to force it.
"There's times where I wish he'd do one thing. I wish he'd learn how to execute better," Rivers added. "He's one of those guys, you get a lot of them from the U.S., AAU guys, who have never needed to execute, because they can do it on their own. That doesn't help the team."
It's not surprising that Antetokounmpo would balk at those comments, but viewing from the outside, there certainly seems to be validity to at least some of what Rivers says. Questioning a player's IQ will always understandably irk them, but watching Antetokounmpo play with Lillard and now Adebayo, the criticism of him wanting to attack downhill and not adjusting his play style has been apparent for some time.
What might help the Heat the most here is that, for as stubborn as Antetokounmpo can be, he is also fueled by a desire to prove people wrong. While Rivers may have been unable to get Antetokounmpo to buy into changing his style while playing for him, criticizing the former MVP might lead Giannis to show he can adapt his style purely out of spite.