There is a bright spot in the tragic story of Alonzo Mourning. Well, not exactly bright. We'll call it dim.

	Now come on, who really thought that J.R. would stay out of trouble?

And it is this: Imagine how much more badly off the Miami Heat would be if they had signed Isaiah Rider and did not have Mourning around to internally police him.

Because, as we all suspected -- which now turns into we all knew -- Rider already is acting up in Los Angeles, where he quickly has become Phil Jackson's whipping boy. Not that it is not deserved.

Here's the great thing about Isaiah, though. Only Isaiah can turn a controversy into an even bigger controversy. For instance, last week, Jackson disclosed that Isaiah was late to a practice. Unsolicited, really. Jackson just threw it out there, like something Al Gore might spew, making you shake your head and ask, "What did he just say?"

Isaiah was late. Why are you stunned?

So here's what Isaiah says about his tardiness.

"You should talk to him [Jackson] about that," he said. "We're supposed to be in the gym, shoes tied and ready to go. We [Jackson and Isaiah] walked in together. My shoes weren't tied. So, I was late.

"I'm the least of your worries. I'm fine."

Has he been punching holes in more Pepsi cans? He's the least of our worries? If the Lakers win another championship, Isaiah would be late to the locker room to get champagne dumped on him.

He's fine? Well, other than the fact that he came into camp out of shape, saying he did not play or work out because he did not have a contract until late in the summer. Is this guy for real? Like he can't work out unless he is making a mil.

So here's the latest. Isaiah sprains his ankle in training camp. The Lakers on Tuesday play a preseason game at The Pond -- which brings to mind Chevy Chase's great line in Caddyshack to Bill Murray, which could have been said to Rider, "We've got a pool and a pond. A pond would be good for you" -- and Isaiah ignored two opportunities to get any treatment at all on the ankle before the game. Still, he went out and played, and actually played pretty well.

"He showed me that he made up for the fact he wasn't professional enough to take care of that ankle after practice [Monday] or before practice [Tuesday]," Jackson said after the game. "Then, he's not going to accept an excuse of not being able to play as a ready out. He's going to play anyway, so he's got great grit and toughness. That still doesn't take care of the professionalism you have to have, coming in and doing the right thing and getting therapy post and prior to games."

		Everything has been used on Isaiah. He is enough to make a behavioral therapist seek therapy. He is a wreck socially, but he's too smart to have all the old tricks used on him.

Rider said he simply assumed the ankle would feel better.

And you know what they say about assuming. Same thing they say about guys with big feet.

Of course, that Jackson is making all this public knowledge is a fairly transparent ploy to make Isaiah change his nefarious ways.

Jackson did some of the same things with Shaquille O'Neal last season, and quite obviously it worked.

But here is the difference: All along, O'Neal wanted to win, he just didn't seem to have somebody to instill the discipline to get him there. Isaiah neither wants to win, nor does he want discipline instilled upon him.

I mean, c'mon, is Jackson handing Isaiah a book about the advantages of the neoclassic approach to the art of enlightenment through yoga and meditation and telling him to read 37 pages a day really going to sway this guy? (I have an idea for a book to give to Isaiah. Give him a "Where's Waldo" book, superimpose Isaiah's mug on it and change the name to "Where's Isaiah.")

Everything has been used on Isaiah. He is enough to make a behavioral therapist seek therapy. He is a wreck socially, but he's too smart to have all the old tricks used on him.

Which gets me back to my original point. The only way Isaiah was going to succeed in Miami was for Mourning to be present to bust him when he needed busting. The great thing about Mourning is that after a three-hour Pat Riley practice, Mourning will go in and lift weights for another two hours.

That's the kind of mentality Isaiah needed to see, and he needed somebody on his team, other than his coach, getting on his case.

Without Mourning there, Isaiah would have gone back to, well, what he is doing in L.A.

Western Wandering

	Cheaney