Stephen A. Smith has had some very strong opinions on this Ime Udoka situation. With the Celtics head coach being suspended for a year over having an affair with a team staff member, Smith has been calling out the Celtics organization directly. He believes that if the Celtics were going to make this public, which they did, they should have fired him. Smith takes issue with the team making this public given the fact that it is only a one-year suspension.
Smith has stated that white coaches across professional sports have done the same thing but they still get protection from their organizations. It's a double standard that Smith takes issue with. ESPN reporter Malika Andrews, however, isn't too happy with Smith's remarks as she believes he is missing some information. On First Take today, Andrews called out Smith, saying "Stephen A, With all due respect, this is not about pointing the finger. Stop. What became apparent to me in this press conference is we do not have all of the information here.”
Smith did not take kindly to this interaction at all, and it led to a heated exchange in which he tried to shut Andrews down. “I listened to you,” Smith said. “You are the one telling me to stop on my show, it ain’t happenin','" said matter of factly.
He then went off on what Andrews was implying here, noting “I don’t appreciate where you (Andrews) are going with that. I’m not blaming anybody but Ime Udoka. He deserves to be fired if they were going to fire him. If you are not going to fire him, then don’t fire him. My issue is all of this being publicized.”
This has been a sensitive topic, and there is no doubt that these debates will continue to be had next week. Let us know who you believe is in the right, in the comments below.
