Kobe Bryant had strong opinions on the recent scandal at Rutgers University, which involved former head coach Mike Rice verbally abusing his players as well as shoving, kicking, and throwing basketballs at them. When Showtime's Jim Rome asked Bryant how he would have reacted, he responded, "I would have smacked the hell out of him. No question about it."
When Bryant first learned of the incident he posted on Twitter, "That's not #coaching that's a power trip #rutgersbasketball. At a minimum it's horrible coaching. #coachdontbully." Bryant went on to say that smacking Rice "probably wouldn't be the best way to react to it," but that's how he likely would have handled Rice's abuse.
Rome asked Bryant why no one on the Rutgers basketball team reacted in that fashion, to which he said, "I think everyone was trying to do the right thing by holding their tongue and not saying anything, but that's abusive man. You can't take that form of abuse that's crazy. My parents didn't even do nothing like that to me."
Rome pressed Bryant on whether he'd really "smack" a coach. Bryant answered convincingly, saying, "Oh no question. Just a year later I was going at it with Shaq."
Kobe Bryant was not the only member of the NBA community with a strong reaction to Mike Rice's abuse. Jared Sullinger of the Boston Celtics tweeted "I would of snapped on the coach from Rutgers.... I would sit before I take some abuse from that man."
Warriors guard Stephen Curry tweeted, "Man how is that Rutgers coach not fired already? If my son was on that team Id be on the first thing smoking to his soon to be vacant office."
Even LeBron James chimed in on the Twitter bashing of Rice, saying, If my son played for Rutgers or a coach like that he would have some real explaining to do and I'm still gone whoop on him afterwards! C'mon."
James' teammate Ray Allen was more direct and explicit, calling the video "despicable" and tweeting that he wanted to "fight him."
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