PHILADELPHIA VS. INDIANA MILWAUKEE VS. ORLANDO MIAMI VS. CHARLOTTE NEW YORK VS. TORONTO SAN ANTONIO VS. MINNESOTA L.A. LAKERS VS. PORTLAND SACRAMENTO VS. PHOENIX UTAH VS. DALLAS

Wednesday, May 30 Season ends early in Miami, Portland and Minny By David Aldridge Special to ESPN.com What do you do when the carnival leaves without you? Pippen and the Blazers expected to be playing ball well into May ... and June. The NBA playoffs are going on, but in Miami, Portland and Minneapolis, it might as well be baseball season. (Oh. Right.) The year that began with Rasheed Wallace writing his ring size on the playboard in the team's locker room, that began with Steve Smith guaranteeing a championship, that saw the Heat pull the trigger on the two biggest deals of the offseason to get a title to South Beach, that began with the Wolves hopeful that Joe Smith would be their power forward of the future, is over. "If I were the owner," Riles told the assembled media in Miami on Monday, "I'd fire me." Coach Riles should have a long talk with GM Riles first. Coach Riles may have done his best job this season; GM Riles may have done his worst. His key decisions this season blew up in his face as fast as Baron Davis blew by his point guards. In Portland, Bob Whitsitt is throwing himself on the mercy of the paying public, one of whom was ejected from the Rose Garden in Game 3 against the Lakers for having the audacity to speak her mind in the form of a sign that read "Trade Whitsitt." Whitsitt says it's all his fault, that he put the team together and that he should be held accountable. And next week, he'll fire Mike Dunleavy. (Unfortunately, no one's buying this contract extension spin coming out of Portland.) In Minnesota, the team president ... oh, sorry. He's still on punishment. The question now is, what do these teams do? The one saving grace for both Portland and Miami is that each is owned by someone who doesn't quake in his boots at the prospect of playing the luxury tax. So making a megadeal involving maximum salary contracts isn't something they'll reject out of hand. "I had a long conversation on the phone with my owner about this being a big ticket year," Riley said during training camp. "Next year, you know, we're gonna have four players or five players or six players that will equal about $47 million. So we're gonna be about $7 million under the luxury tax. A lot of this is gonna be predicated on whether we win this year, and how good is this team, and is this a championship quality team, as to whether we're going to go past that." Hardaway Mourning Nothing else matters until Miami finds out if Alonzo Mourning can make a true return to form. If he's anything less than his old self, the Heat can't win big. Every decision Riles made last offseason was predicated on Mourning being ornery in the paint. But the fact remains that this was a team built to win a championship this season. It did not come close. And Riles has to be held accountable. The Hots decided to make their move last offseason instead of this upcoming one. GM Riles didn't want to be left with, he said, "a lot of cap room and about two guys on my roster" in the Summer of '01. He could have stayed with the status quo and tried again with Jamal Mashburn, Voshon Lenard, Clarence Weatherspoon, Mark Strickland and Otis Thorpe all entering the final year of their contracts -- about $16.6 million worth of salary that could have been jettisoned this summer to take a crack at Chris Webber or Allan Houston. Instead, GM Riles pulled the trigger and blew up his squad, sending Mashburn and P.J. Brown to Charlotte for Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason, and getting Brian Grant from Portland. He gave the ball to Tim Hardaway and Anthony Carter. But Riles' biggest mistake, and it's hard to see it as anything but a mistake now, was to allow himself to believe that Mourning was ready to return. There was only one man who could have stopped 'Zo from putting the uni on again this season, and with all due respect, it wasn't 'Zo's doctors, because no one knows with any certainty the course Mourning's kidney disease will run. It was Patrick James Riley who could have put a stop to it, and quickly. Instead, Riles allowed himself to be seduced. He let Mourning practice, slowly, and then full-speed. He let Mourning ingratiate himself with his teammates again, to the point where no one thought it a big deal when 'Zo started dropping big hints about his imminent return. Riles looked at a hardly-imposing Eastern Conference and saw his big man dominating the middle again, not caring that he was jolting the chemistry of a 50-win team with its own identity. So now what? Payton The Heat have to get more athletic. They don't need a team of 6-9 runners, but a couple who can get their own shots and defend in space would be nice. And, sadly, they have to deep-six the idea of Hardaway as a lead guard. He just can't hold up over a full season and playoffs at the level they need. I've thought the Heat would go after Gary Payton, but with the new rules coming in next season, a jump-shooting point would make sense, too, and might not cost as much. Keep in mind that Riles tried long and hard to pry Rod Strickland from Washington, too. He is now quite available. It's hard to imagine Paul Allen will okay $86 million in team salary next season in Portland. Frankly, I don't think the Blazers need to bring in any more "talent." They need some soldiers, grunts who'll do the dirty work and who won't care about shots or stats. It's possible, I guess, that there could be takers for Scottie Pippen (two years, $31.625 million left on his contact) or Damon Stoudamire (four years, $49 million). By the way, the Blazers will get no kind of relief from the league for Shawn Kemp, with three years and $48 million left on his deal, no matter how long he's in substance abuse treatment. Everyone says the Blazers have to take a long, hard look at Arvydas Sabonis. He's still a brilliant passer and solid perimeter shooter, the argument goes, but if he can't guard Shaq, he's not helping. Problem is, who can guard Shaq? I don't think David Robinson is leaving San Antonio, and I don't think Dikembe Mutombo is leaving Philadelphia. (Although if the Blazers talked about 'Sheed, the Sixers, I think, would listen.) So Portland may have no choice but to throw Sabas and Davis back in the hole next year. Davis Smith My instinct would be not to blow the Blazers up, but tinker around the margins. See if there are takers for Pippen, Steve Smith and Dale Davis, whose soon-to-expire contracts would be palatable for other clubs. Bring in a Chris Dudley (if Phoenix buys him out of the last year of his deal) or a Johnny Newman to be role players with the core group of Wallace, Wells and Stoudamire. Give Erick Barkley a real chance to handle the backup point role. See if less is more. By contrast, the Wolves' problems are simple. They need more and better players. They need real size in the paint and a banger to play alongside Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak. Most importantly they need to replenish their lost draft picks. The solution may be to dangle Terrell Brandon, a medium ticket item (four years, $42.5 million left), to one of the teams with multiple first round picks and no interest in keeping them. Orlando (picks 15 and 23 in the first round, and the third pick of the second round, though there are various obligations both coming to and going from the Magic) comes to mind. Denver (picks 11 and 21 in the first round) comes to mind. Vancouver (a lottery pick and the 28th pick in the first round) comes to mind. It's not ideal, but if there's one area where the Wolves have some depth, it's point guard, where Chauncey Billups and William Avery back up Brandon. Getting multiple picks would enable the Wolves to take a big man more ready to play now (maybe a Loren Woods or a Brian Scalabrine) and take a shot, maybe, on one of the high school big men that will be in the draft. The best solution may be for Riles, Trader Bob and Flip Saunders to talk turkey with one another. Wouldn't Dale Davis be a solid solution for the Wolves' lack of heft in the frontcourt? Wouldn't the quicksilver Brandon be the perfect antidote for the Heat's point guard problems? Wouldn't Sam Mitchell and Bruce Bowen be the kind of selfless, team-oriented guys the Blazers so desperately need? Riles, after all, believes that just about anything is possible with the right people involved. "Nobody's locked in any more," Riles said during camp. "I think being locked in is overrated right now. I think New York understands it. I think Portland understands it. I think we understand it. This is a sign and trade game now. This isn't a room game ... I think next year you're gonna see more sign and trades because I think players will able to pick out exactly where they wanna go, and if they don't make a trade for them, I think that the $4.5 million average is sort of enough to get by on." He better hope that that's the case this coming summer. Because if that's not the case, then what makes Riles any different from Saunders, or Rudy Tomjanovich, or a half-dozen other coaches whose teams aren't quite good enough? Around The League Add Mike Fratello's name to the Detroit head coach search list. He's going to get his interview, along with Dennis Johnson, Seattle assistant Dwane Casey, Denver assistant John Lucas, Bucks assistant Terry Stotts and former Pacers assistant Rick Carlisle. All fit the Pistons' criteria of having either been former NBA head coaches or top NBA assistants. Further down the list in both Detroit and Cleveland is ex-Knicks and Pacers head man Bob Hill, now at Fordham University. I hate to be a noodge on this zone defense thing for next season, but don't take my word for it. Listen to a current head coach: "I guaran-damn-tee you that we'll be playing zone next season." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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