It has been difficult for Kobe Bryant to watch his team from the bench while nursing a knee injury, but the veteran NBA star also recently opened up about how difficult it has been to watch basketball in general.

"It's more of a finesse game," Bryant said before his team took on the Chicago Bulls earlier this week, according to ESPN. "It's more small ball, which, personally, I don't really care much for. I like kind of smash-mouth, old-school basketball because that's what I grew up watching. I also think it's much, much less physical. Some of the flagrant fouls that I see called nowadays, it makes me nauseous. You can't touch a guy without it being a flagrant foul."

Perhaps Bryant has been able to think more about the game during his time off while he heals from his injury stemming from December when he broke a bone in his knee. The 35-year-old still is not sure when he will be returning.

Thus, it is not surprising that Bryant is reflecting on the game around him. Kobe went on to say that players have to change the way they play in order to cater to the rules. He also said that the rules limit the opportunities for players to utilize their skills.

"I like the contact," Bryant said. "As a defensive player, if you enjoy playing defense, that's what you want. You want to be able to put your hands on a guy. You want to be able to hand check a little bit. The truth is, it makes the game [where] players have to be more skillful. Nowadays, literally anybody can get out there and get to the basket and you can't touch anybody. Back then, if guys put their hands on you, you had to have the skill to be able to go both ways, change direction, post up, you had to have a mid-range game because you didn't want to go all the way to the basket because you would get knocked ass over tea kettle. So I think playing the game back then required much more skill."