Mourning Considers Options

Ailing Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning, still weighing medical options and hoping to avoid a kidney transplant, visited practice Tuesday for the first time since his illness was discovered.

“He’s upbeat,” Coach Pat Riley said in Miami.

The prognosis remains uncertain, Heat officials said. A course of treatment for Mourning’s apparent kidney disorder probably will be determined by next week after he has finished consulting with doctors, Riley said.

Mourning’s foster mother, Fannie Threet, said he has a rare kidney ailment that could require a transplant.

“He just said, ‘Oh, it is bad, Mom. It is bad,’ ” she told the Palm Beach Post.

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Philadelphia 76er star Allen Iverson said “there was a good exchange of ideas” after meeting with a civil rights group and others offended by his upcoming rap album.

Iverson also said the album will stay on the market with no change in the lyrics, which contain violent references and derogatory terms about gays, women and blacks. Last week, Iverson released a statement apologizing to gays and women who might be offended by the lyrics.

“It suggests at some level Iverson may care about the community,” said Rita Addessa, director of the Lesbian and Gay Task Force.

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Charlotte Hornet forward Derrick Coleman, expected to sit out only two weeks while he adjusts to new heart medication for an irregular heartbeat, will be sidelined for the entire preseason. . . . Boston Celtic forward Paul Pierce, severely stabbed Sept 25 in a nightclub incident, might be cleared for full-scale practices Friday, the team said. . . . Glen Rice made only two of nine shots from the floor, but he made all 16 free throws in his debut for the New York Knicks.