Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Times reports: After more than two months of angst and analysis, Laker center Shaquille O'Neal has scheduled the surgery doctors believe will ease the pain in his arthritic toe for Sept. 11.

As expected, Dr. Robert Mohr will perform the surgery, called a cheilectomy, at UCLA Medical Center.

The recovery is expected to take about eight weeks, and O'Neal, the most valuable player of the last three NBA Finals, could miss most or all of training camp and some of the regular season.

The Lakers open their bid for a fourth consecutive championship Oct. 29 against San Antonio. If O'Neal's rehabilitation follows its projected schedule--it varies from patient to patient and could take as much as a month longer--O'Neal would return within about a week of the opener.

A virus that gripped O'Neal in recent weeks looms as a potential complication. If he continues to show symptoms of the virus that forced him to be hospitalized because his body temperature spiked and liver swelled, the surgery would be delayed again. Perry Rogers, O'Neal's agent, said Friday that the date was set assuming the virus would be diminished enough or eradicated in time for the surgery.

"Shaquille wants to get on with this," Rogers said. "We can't wait anymore."

Howard Beck of the Los Angeles Daily News reports: Shaquille O'Neal will undergo surgery on his troublesome big toe sometime in the next two to three weeks, but his recovery time could be shorter than once expected, his representative said Wednesday.

A painful arthritic condition had the Lakers' franchise player limping through much of last season and forced him to the injured list twice. After weighing several options, O'Neal has chosen to have a cheilectomy, in which bone spurs will be shaved off the toe, increasing his mobility and, he hopes, decreasing the pain.

O'Neal will be able to walk immediately after the surgery and should be running full-speed within six weeks, according to his agent, Perry Rogers.

Assuming the operation is performed in early September, it's at least conceivable O'Neal would be back in time for the season opener, Oct. 29, when the Lakers play host to the San Antonio Spurs.

"The odds are greater than 90 percent that he will experience much less pain than he did last season," Rogers said.

A team spokesman said Monday that Lakers superstar Shaquille O'Neal was recovering from 'a flu-like virus that gave him a 103-degree fever' which forced him to cancel his appearance to a camp which bares his name.

ESPN.com is reporting that Shaq spent Thursday night in an Orlando hospital and was released Friday, tests revealing that it was nothing more than a simple virus.

"The virus will take its normal course and work its way out of his system,'' Lakers spokesman Michael Ulenkamp said.

The organizers of the event, named the 'Shaquille O'Neal Tampa Celebrity Basketball Weekend', were not notified that O'Neal was ill and said they were at a loss to explain O'Neal's absence.

"Everyone's disappointed: the kids, the parents, the community,'' said promoter Darryl Madison of Paramount Celebrity Management Co.

Despite parents paying $250 per child for them to attend a camp run by Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal, and despite being contracted more than $50,000 to run the camp, O'Neal simply failed to show up.

ESPN is reporting that O'Neal was a no-show at a celebrity youth basketball camp bearing his name on Sunday, the camp comprising of a two-day clinic and a celebrity game Sunday night which is supposed to feature world champion Lakers center O'Neal along with other NBA stars.

Promoter Darryl Madison says O'Neal did not appear at the youth clinic Sunday afternoon and doubted Shaq would attend a celebrity basketball game that night, according to ESPN.

O'Neal, who is suspected to be at his home in Orlando, also skipped out on a dinner with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday that was part of the camp program and his agent has not been able to be contacted for comment.

The L.A. Lakers deepened their bench even further today by signing Bulls free agent A.J. Guyton, ESPN.com is reporting.  While terms were not disclosed it is suspected that the contract will be for the league minimum.

ESPN.com reports: Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal, hampered by an arthritic big toe through much of last season, could reportedly undergo surgery in the next two weeks and might miss several games in the upcoming season.

Citing sources close to O'Neal, the Los Angeles Times said Dr. Robert Mohr, chief of podiatric surgery at the UCLA Medical Center, is expected to perform the procedure, called a cheilectomy.

Healing typically requires three months, the newspaper said, adding that O'Neal has been told he should be able to walk the day of the procedure, which takes between 20 and 30 minutes, and could be running in less than six weeks and playing by early to mid-November.

The three-time defending NBA champion Lakers open training camp Oct. 1 at their El Segundo headquarters and begin the regular season Oct. 29 at Staples Center against the San Antonio Spurs.

Peter May writes that the Nets may have improved themselves with last weeks? trade to acquire Dikembe Mutombo, but the trade ?will not, in any way, shape, or form, give them the body they need to compete against Shaquille O'Neal. Even the Nets understand that.?

''Oh no, no, no,'' agreed Nets general manager Rod Thorn. ''No one can stop Shaq.''

In 1991, the Sixers figured they needed an inside presence to get to the Finals. Mutombo was that presence. They also wanted someone who could contend with Shaq in the Finals. Mutombo could not contend.

In the five-game NBA Finals of 2001, Shaq averaged 33 points, 15.8 rebounds, and 3.4 blocked shots. May adds, ?Yup, Mutombo really slowed down The Big Diesel. Hey, it's not Mutombo's fault. You never heard him say he could play with Shaq. But you now hear (or read) others say it, and it's nonsense.?

The greatest compliment Chick Hearn ever paid Rod Hundley was agreeing to work alongside him. The greatest compliment Hundley ever paid his mentor was quitting that job.
   
"I worked next to him for two years, and I knew he was the greatest ever," Hundley, the only radio voice the Jazz have ever had, said Tuesday. "I realized that if I stayed with him, I would never be more than his number two guy, because he wasn't going anywhere."
   
Hundley went on to a play-by-play gig of his own with Phoenix, and joined the expansion New Orleans Jazz when they were created in 1974. Twenty-eight years later, Hundley is as identified with his franchise as Hearn, who died Monday at 85, was with the Lakers.

The Associated Press reports that legendary Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn died Monday night. He was 85.

Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers ever had, died at 6:30 p.m. PT at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner said. Hearn fell and struck his head Friday in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with wife Marge. They would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary Aug. 13.

Surgeons operated twice Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.

''The city of Los Angeles has lost an incredible icon,'' said former Lakers star Jerry West, now the Memphis Grizzlies president of basketball operations. ''For all of the years he's been around as the voice of the Lakers, he helped capture so many special moments for fans everywhere.''

Hearn's career was far longer than such Lakers standouts as West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper. And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.

''There's never going to be another Chick Hearn,'' Johnson said. ''He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job.''

The AP reports that longtime Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn is still in critical condition after undergoing two operations for a head injury.

"There's no change,'' Northridge Hospital Medical Center spokeswoman Kate Preston said. The 85-year-old Hearn was sedated and doctors were monitoring his condition, according to Preston. Hearn's neurosurgeon, Dr. Asher Taban, said the broadcaster's prognosis was "not good,'' and said it was "probable'' that he had called his last Lakers game.

Hearn remained sedated and doctors were monitoring his condition. They didn't anticipate the need to perform any further surgeries, but planned to test his neurological condition Monday, Preston said.

Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday after hitting the back of his head in fall at his San Fernando Valley home. When Hearn arrived at the hospital, doctors found a hemorrhage inside his cranium, on top of the brain. He underwent surgery and his condition appeared more stable.

On Saturday morning, his neurological condition began to deteriorate and another blood clot was found, this one inside the brain. Hearn then underwent a second operation.

"If he has a full recovery in terms of his motor functions he will very likely have speech difficulty,'' Taban said.