Houston Rocket Terrence Jones Accused Of Stomping On Homeless Man

Unless you’re a hardcore Houston Rockets fan, you probably don’t know a whole lot about Terrence Jones. He really didn’t play a whole lot last season, and whether or not he has a lengthy future in the league remains unclear. As such, let me hit you with some facts about the NBA player. 1) He’s 6-foot-9. 2) He won a national championship during his sophomore season at Kentucky. 3) He’s an inconsiderate dick, at least if one police sergeant is to be believed.

Apparently, Jones was coming out of a nightclub in Portland, Oregon early on Wednesday morning when he passed a cop who was trying to keep all the patrons organized following the establishment’s closure for the night. At some point, the officer allegedly turned around and watched Jones shout, “Wake Up!” at two sleeping homeless men before lifting his foot and stomping on one of the poor guys. Jones was immediately taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor harassment.

According to ESPN, he pled not guilty during his subsequent arraignment and was freed on his own recognizance. He’ll next head back to court on September 6, which luckily for Jones, is well before the NBA regular season begins. Regardless of what happens with the case, this misdemeanor charge likely won’t carry any lofty legal repercussions, but it certainly won’t sit very well with fans if he’s convicted and/ or confesses to stomping on a defenseless forty-six-year-old homeless man.

If this story really happened as it’s been reported, someone needs to sit Jones down and explain to him all of the things he did wrong here. First of all, he shouldn’t be closing down any nightclubs. If he wasn’t to go out and have a good time, that’s one thing, but nothing good ever happens during the last half an hour or hour a club is open. As a professional basketball player, he should be putting in an appearance, staying until the party’s apex and then bolting. Other people should be saying, “man, that party got worse after Terrence left.” Second of all, he should be constantly aware of how noticeable he is at all times. As a six-foot-nine professional athlete, people will constantly be staring at him, both because he’s famous and because he’s big. As such, doing things in public places without attracting notice isn’t an option for him. And third and most important of all, he should be nice to other human beings. Regardless of whether you think homeless people put themselves in their situations or not, they’re worthy of common courtesy. Besides, it's not like this dude actually did something to him.

Here’s to hoping Jones gets his act together and never does anything like this again. I suspect the general public will eventually forgive him for this mess, but I’m not sure any athlete would be accepted that’s repeatedly mean to homeless people.