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Doc Rivers’ seemingly critical comments about Giannis Antetokounmpo have created massive discourse, and one former Laker has taken exception to what he said.
It is very rare that people within the NBA fraternity speak negatively about one another to the media. Whatever the issues are behind the scenes, they tend not to come out. So when Doc Rivers was recently critical of his former superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the situation blew up quickly.
Rivers made comments about the difficulty of coaching the Greek Freak and seemingly called out his playing style. Antetokounmpo was visibly shocked when told of the comments, calling them ‘insane’. Doc has since reportedly apologised, but fans and the media alike have a lot to say about the issue.
Metta Sandiford-Artest asks coaches to stop blaming players after Doc Rivers’ comments
The relationship between players and coaches in the NBA can be tenuous at times. It is rarely worse than when a team with expectations fails to deliver, like the Milwaukee Bucks did during Rivers’ tenure. There is plenty of blame to go around in those situations, and nobody really wants it.
Regardless, for Rivers to suggest openly that Giannis is difficult to coach is something a lot of people have taken issue with. And former NBA champion Metta Sandiford-Artest has vocalised the issue.
“Weird that a person would throw Giannis Antetokounmpo under the bus,” Sandiford-Artest wrote in a post on X. “Makes no sense. All he does is work hard and (bring) championships to the Milwaukee. Coach Metta so ready to take the blame. Coaches, stop blaming players.”
The former Laker currently works as a coach in women’s college basketball, which may explain why he is weighing in on the matter. Rivers himself has clarified his comments since he made them, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in the basketball world will let them slide.
Read more:
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/blame-former-nba-champion-calls-131000364.html
