After comments former head coach Doc Rivers relatively Janis AntecumpaBasketball IQ and coaching ability went viral, Rivers turned to Heat star player to apologize and explain his meaning, Mark J. Spears writes for ESPN.
Rivers said instead of “IQ” he meant “game feel,” and he said Antetokounmpo responded positively to his apology.
“I said he was one of the most interesting guys” said Rivers.He makes incredible passes, but sometimes because of the power he plays with, it makes him feel uncomfortable. It was more of a compliment. I hate it and feel bad about it. I apologize for the distraction. I’m not trying to be him... What I was trying to do is that whenever you have a great player, you have to build a team around that great player. This is what I was trying to do. It’s not always easy. That’s a compliment. I have been successful and unsuccessful at this. But your job is to build the best team you can around this great player and his talents.”
Rivers coached Antetokounmpo for three seasons in Milwaukee as the team struggled with health and finding ways to maximize the team’s talent.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Hornets head coach Charles Lee and a new force forward Naz Reed had the public disagreement early in the season, but they worked to put it behind them and move forward with a successful partnership. Reid spoke about the incident after Monday’s win over the Cavaliers. “When you are very competitive, these things happen” Reid said, according to Rod Boone (Link to video on Twitter). “It’s how you react. We need to be able to take those moments and be accountable so we can move on to the next situation to focus on. So, since then, the coach and I have been doing well. You see we talk a lot on the floor… I’m not too worried about that.”
- Lee also spoke further Hornets star wing Brandon Millerwho missed Monday’s game with a right hip strain. He expressed optimism that Miller will be back soon. “I don’t think it will take long” Lee said, according to Boone (Link to video on Twitter). “He’s already shown some progress since playing Friday night… and so I don’t want to say day-to-day, maybe I’m going too far or something, but I don’t think it’s going to be a long-term thing.”
- The magic 2-7 as they struggled to find a consistent offense while dealing with multiple injuries. Orlando’s loss to the Warriors on Saturday showed just how little room for error the team has on any given night. Jason Beede writes for the Orlando Sentinel. The team needed 113 shots to make 43, while the Warriors needed just 80 to make the same. According to the head coach, there were signs of progress Sean Sweeneywho noted that the team’s emphasis on limiting losses was successful in at least one game.