Lance Stephenson: NBA Player Charged With Assaulting Girlfriend

Lance Stephenson of the Indiana Pacers had just begun his NBA career. He was chosen as the 40th pick in the 2010 NBA draft, but he may soon find his career short-circuited by off-the-court trouble. The athlete is going to be prosecuted for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. According to prosecutors, Stephens allegedly pushed the woman down a flight of steps and slammed her head against the bottom step out of anger.

Police say that the woman arrived home late after going out with friends, and that Stephenson was waiting for her to arrive. That is when the alleged attack took place. Stephenson, 19, was released without bail this week after being arrested on charges of assault, menacing and harassment.

Stephenson has enough raw potential to make NBA scouts salivate but enough undisciplined behavior to make them all run in the other direction. He was Mr. Basketball in the state of New York, and the all-time leading scorer in the history of the state. This is a remarkable achievement in a state that has produced some of the most phenomenal basketball players in the world.

The problem for Stephenson is that the same bravado and passion necessary for him to become such an amazing player is what also leads him to be seemingly determined to screw up his life. This is not the first time Stephenson has gotten into trouble with the law in a situation involving a woman. In 2008, he was charged with groping a 17-year-old, and the same year, he was suspended from school after a fight with a teammate. Stephenson's mistakes might come off to some as the mischief of an audacious teenager, but what starts off as a set of minor infractions usually graduates to something more serious.

My thoughts on Stephenson are that he is a young guy who will soon realize that being a great athlete does not give you access to social immortality. There have been better athletes who've seen their entire lives ruined, primarily because they were unable or unwilling to control their behavior off the court. If I were an NBA executive, I wouldn't consider bringing Stephenson into my organization, because his seemingly arrogant and selfish attitude would ruin the chemistry of any team, and his penchant for ridiculous behavior would only grow along with his NBA stardom. Pacers President Larry Bird must also deal with the public relations problem of having a player on his team who's been charged with committing violence against women. Bird may decide to cut his losses, which I don't think is a bad idea.

My advice for the parents of black athletes who raise their sons and daughters to become superstars is the following: First, teach your kids to work just as hard academically as they do athletically. Sports is temporary. Many black males have given their lives to sports, only to find that a black man without an education becomes a magnet for the penitentiary, the morgue and the unemployment line. Second, teach your children that the same discipline they show on the court or field must be applied in every dimension of their lives. Many great athletes have been brought down due to relationship issues, drunken brawls in strip clubs and substance abuse problems. Don't let your child be the next statistic.

A New York athlete (originally from Kentucky) who serves as a prime example of the importance of making good off-the-field choices is Allan Houston. Allan played in the NBA for 12 years, earned more than $100 million during his career and now works with the New York Knicks organization. I went to high school with Houston and noticed that even though he was clearly a star on the basketball court, his father made sure that he was also a star in the classroom. To this day, Houston is one of the greatest success stories in the history of Kentucky, yet he was not the state's greatest athlete, or even it's best basketball player. Our young athletes should consider that model.