Over the weekend one of the NBA's most respected coaches took a jab at his former player. That coach was Doc Rivers, taking a shot at Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Miami Heat and Giannis have come out of the gates slow to start the NBA season and Doc Rivers apparently wanted to weigh in on that start, stating this about his former player.

He’s not easy. He plays at this crazy downhill pace. 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. He really has only one way of playing. Every play, he wants to force it. I wish he’d learned how to execute better.

Doc Rivers

And after the Miami Heat's victory against the Sacramento Kings, Giannis Antetokounmpo was made aware of Rivers comments, and had this to say.

First of all he’s not my coach. My coach is Erik Spoelstra. I’m speechless. You gotta go ask him why he felt that — that’s on him, that’s not on me. I gotta focus on my team and what I gotta do…godd*** that’s crazy — never let bitterness or pettiness get in front of your goals and dreams…that’s insane you gotta go ask him why he said what he said— not me.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis was visually taken aback when he was told what Rivers had said of him and did a fair job not saying more than what he did. The Bucks went through many coaches during his time in Milwaukee and Rivers was one of them, one of them who also got fired for failure to get the job done when it mattered.

Antetokounmpo's comments insinuate that Rivers is upset about being fired from the Bucks and seems to be putting the blame on Antetokounmpo being hard to coach.

Rivers has had a constant theme of falling out with super stars and seems to always pin the blame on them rather than taking accountability, and Giannis wasn't having any of that.

After Rivers was fired, Giannis had some great things to say about his former coach: “He’s had 25 years as a coach, an incredible coach, almost 15 years as a player. He’s been in the NBA for 30, 40 years. He’s definitely an NBA legend. As you guys know, he’s a Hall of Famer. It was great working with him.”

And I think that is why the comments surprised Antetokounmpo so much. The two had shared numerous positive and great comments about each other throughout the years and now Rivers --who is out of coaching-- takes a shot at the player he once coached.

Rivers had talked about his respect for Erik Spoelstra in the podcast as well, and it is up to the Heat to flip the script on the conversations being had by players, fans, media members, and now coaches.

The only cure to the criticism is winning, and the time is now for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat to prove everyone wrong.