Pat Riley made a classy move by putting Alonzo Mourning on the playoff roster, even if the decision didn't have to be made for several more weeks.

	The Heat have been without Mourning before, but not for an entire season.

Just don't expect 'Zo to be anywhere near the court when the playoffs start -- or at any time in the upcoming postseason.

Which is the wisest course of action -- and the only one -- for the Heat to follow.

Mourning still has a ways to go before he fully recovers from a kidney disorder that has sidelined him since training camp. It would make no sense to bring him back for the playoffs, while jeopardizing his career, and who knows, maybe even his life. The franchise and team doctors decided even before the All-Star break that as far as letting him play this season went, the risk was far too great.

"Playoffs and basketball -- that's peripheral now," Riley said Sunday in New York before the Heat lost to the Knicks. "We just want 'Zo to get completely healthy. That's all that matters in this."

There's no other way to look at it. Riley didn't rebuild the Heat only for this season. When he broke up the team that was KO'd by the Knicks in three consecutive postseasons, he did it with the long-term in mind. Just as the Magic went about how they handled Grant Hill's season-ending ankle surgery.

"The last thing we wanted was for Grant to continue to play on it and maybe make it so bad that it would have ended his career," Doc Rivers said. "As I told Grant, 'We didn't sign you for one year, but for seven years.' We'll still have him for six seasons and we'll see what we can do."

	Grant

	Jones

By the same token, Riley, impatient as he can be, is willing to wait until next season to see what he has in Mourning, Eddie Jones, Brian Grant, Anthony Mason and Tim Hardaway. Then again, Riley has no choice. Neither does Mourning, who wants to come back in the worst way.

"Zo's so competitive, he wants to be there for his team," said Muggsy Bogues, a long-time Mourning pal. "He's had some disappointments in the playoffs, so that makes it tough for him. But he knows that the most important thing in this world is his health. He's not stupid. He realizes he can't mess around with that."

	Fuller

It's not like Riley's roster move is going to cost the Heat, anyway. If Todd Fuller -- with all of 105 minutes of playoff experience -- gets left off the 12-man postseason roster, it won't matter one bit. Riley hates to go deeper than eight men in the postseason and almost never does.

But in the big picture, this Heat team might not go very far anyway, given that Jones might not be 100 percent off his shoulder injury. If you think the old Heat teams had to fight and scratch for every point, this one's got even bigger problems generating offense without Mourning and Jones.

Setting aside roster spots for injured players isn't new. In 1997-98, when Patrick Ewing went down with a shattered shooting wrist, the Knicks still put him on the postseason roster. They had no idea he could play, and he wouldn't have seen any action if they hadn't upset the second-seeded Heat in the first round. He rejoined the team in the second round when they lost to the Pacers.

But with this Georgetown center, the circumstances are entirely different.

"I just think it's important for a player who's been a starter and who's been injured to get a spot," Riley said. "That's why we're doing it."

No Heat player is more deserving of this kind of tribute. Riley also harkened back to 1994, when he was coaching the Knicks and didn't put Doc Rivers on the postseason roster. Rivers blew out his knee in the Knicks' 19th game that season, forcing the team to make a deal at the trading deadline for Derek Harper. Rivers wasn't expected back, but was healthy by the time the Knicks advanced to the Finals against the Rockets. Except that Harper had played so well -- he arguably was the Knicks' MVP in the playoffs -- Rivers never would have gotten off the bench, anyway.

Still, Rivers had more than earned his stripes as a Knick, short as his tenure was. Looking back on it, Riley now sees leaving his playmaker off the roster as a major oversight.

He won't make that same mistake again with Mourning.

"That's what it's really all about, what it's only about," Riley said. "It has nothing to do with whether he plays or not."

The rest of the Eastern Conference is just having a difficult time accepting that.

"I don't think you put a guy on the roster, if you don't think there is any chance of playing," said Jeff Van Gundy, who might be excused if he's a little wary about a Mourning return, since the Knicks and Heat always seem to collide in May. "If he's healthy, I think he's going to play. All you have to do is have him go down there and score, have him go down there and rebound, and have him go down there and block shots."

It's really not that easy. If Mourning were going to play, the Heat would have to bring him back for at least 10-15 regular-season games. Even though he's been practicing the last six weeks with the second team -- not with the first team, significantly -- there is no substitute for game conditioning. They'd be risking injury, team chemistry (how would Mourning, Mason and Grant coexist in the low post?) and a lot of embarrassment for Mourning if they immediately threw him into the playoff fire. Again, Riley would never be so stupid to let that happen. But it's not the issue, anyway.

"This is all about 'Zo's health," said Bogues. "There's nothing more important than that."

	Odom

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