Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo: ‘Coach Griff was a great coach’

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo opened up about his team’s struggles this season during a recent interview with The Athletic. Milwaukee currently sits in third place in the Eastern Conference standings at 35-21, 8.5 games behind the first-place Boston Celtics.

“Personally, I have to keep on pushing,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. “If I have to talk more in the film sessions like I’ve been doing all year, if I have to f—king grab the f—king board and write something down — if I don’t, I don’t know — but you cannot just let opportunities like this go to waste.

“I feel like I don’t want to look back and be like, ‘Damn, I had some great teams, and I wasn’t able to get over the hump.’ We have to stop feeling bad about ourselves. I’m tired of this. We have to stop doing that. Things are not going to be given to us. We have to go and take it.

Under Doc Rivers, the Bucks won just three of their 10 games before the All-Star break.

But that hasn’t changed what Giannis Antetokounmpo feels his new coach has brought to Milwaukee — experience.

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“Like I’ve played with guys that never felt bad about themselves. Came in, did their job, went home, did their job, went home, did their job. That’s what we have to do. We’re not doing it right now, but hopefully we can do it.”

More importantly, the Bucks are 3-7 under coach Doc Rivers after starting the season 30-13 with Adrian Griffin. On Jan. 24, Milwaukee signed Rivers for a three-year, $40 million contract that runs through the 2026-27 season.

Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo felt first-year head coach Adrian Griffin lacked experience

Antetokounmpo, 29, also discussed why he felt a coaching change was needed.

“I just had to do it. I had to be more vocal this year,” the two-time MVP said. “The last couple of years, I’m used to a specific structure of things, a specific culture, there’s a certain way that you have to do things in order for you to win games, you know?

“And if that level is not being met, as a leader, you have to push that envelope. Push everybody, your coaching staff, your teammates. … Coach Griff was a great coach, a great person to work with, but, at the end of the day, it was his first time.

“He was figuring things out, how to lead a group of guys, how to operate with star players and sometimes, that might be hard. I think everybody did a good job. His coaching staff did a good job too. … I think he did a tremendous job leading us to a 30-13 record, but Coach Doc has won 1,100 games. So it’s totally different.”

Did the Bucks make the right move by firing Mike Budenholzer last year?

Antetokounmpo is the Bucks’ most valuable player, but one could also easily argue that Milwaukee’s former champion coach was just as important to the team. Last season’s first-round series loss to an eighth-seeded Miami Heat squad still looks awful to this day.

However, it was Budenholzer’s only first-round series loss coaching the Bucks. His team won the 2021 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns and lost the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals to the Toronto Raptors. If the Bucks end up falling short this year under Doc Rivers, it’s only going to leave fans with more questions than answers.