Doc Rivers on Giannis Antetokounmpo: ‘I wish he’d learned how to execute better’

The Heat are 3-6, and their partnership with Giannis Antetokounmpo is still finding its way. His former coach has a fairly blunt assessment of what needs to improve.

Speaking with Bill Simmons, Doc Rivers described the challenges of coaching Antetokounmpo during their time together with the Bucks.

“He’s not easy. He plays at this crazy downhill pace,” Rivers said, in a clip shared on X⁠. “He’s really a difficult guy. He has this great passing ability, but he doesn’t have a super-high IQ at the same time.”

That’s a strong criticism of a player whose ability to attack the basket has made him one of the NBA’s most accomplished stars. Rivers’ larger point centered on how Antetokounmpo approaches possessions and prepares to run an offense.

“He really has only one way of playing. Every play, he wants to force it,” Rivers said. “I wish he’d learned how to execute better.”

The Heat’s early record doesn’t settle whether Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo can make this work. Nine games is hardly enough to judge a partnership of that magnitude.

But Rivers believes there’s something specific Antetokounmpo still needs to embrace.

“The thing he still needs to learn is the value of execution, how important it is, when you’re in practice and at shoot around, to lock in on execution,” Rivers said. “Now he has a coach (Erik Spoelstra) who’s as good as there is at execution.”

So Rivers sees room for growth in Antetokounmpo’s game and trusts Spoelstra to help bring it out. The Heat are counting on that combination producing considerably more than they’ve seen so far.