And in this corner, weighing in at 339 pounds...

Shaq's wittle toe has caused him to balloon up to 339 lbs. due to inactivity/surgery. Of course Shaq had promised to report to camp under 300. From sportsline.com :

http://www.sportsline.com/u/ce/multi/0,1329,4346729_54,00.html

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Shaq might not be able to start season opener

Sept. 28, 2001
SportsLine.com wire reports



EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- A tiny problem, relatively speaking, is causing mammoth Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal a lot of pain these days.

O'Neal, who had surgery Aug. 29 to alleviate the ache in his small left toe, said Friday he's not sure he'll be ready to play when the two-time defending NBA champion Lakers begin the season Oct. 30 against Portland.

"I just got cleared to do bikes last week, I haven't been doing anything since the surgery," O'Neal said Friday before the Lakers flew to Hawaii for the beginning of training camp. "I get another checkup in 30 days.

"It's kind of hurting pretty bad, the pinky-winky toe."

O'Neal said he wasn't in basketball shape, although that wouldn't take long. He expressed doubt he'd be playing during the preseason.

"Hopefully, I will be (ready for opening night)," he said. "If not, Kobe (Bryant) and the guys will hold down the fort until I am.

"We're not going to win anything the first month."

O'Neal said he weighed 339 pounds. A day earlier, coach Phil Jackson said the NBA's dominant big man had promised he'd report to camp under 300, but that was before O'Neal knew about the surgery, which has kept him from normal exercise.

Doctors cut away bone from the inside of O'Neal's small toe, which he said caused him pain for years.

Jackson said Thursday he hoped O'Neal would be ready to start the season, adding: "We'd like him to be ready to really start rolling sometime at the end of November."

The coach seemed a bit surprised Friday by O'Neal's uncertainty.

"He's going to have to make those calls, it's his feet," Jackson said. "Realistically, he's got about six to seven weeks (following surgery) before he can really actually start running."

That would be in the middle of October.

"But he could play without that little toe if these were the playoffs," Jackson said.

"It's probably best for us to know than sitting around waiting to hear," forward Rick Fox said of the possibility O'Neal will miss some playing time. "At least we won't have to hear about the reoccurrence of a Kobe-Shaq conflict."

A simmering feud between the two superstars went public last January. From Bryant's perspective, O'Neal wasn't in the proper physical condition at the start of the season. That will again be the case, but at least there's an explanation.

Starting guard Derek Fisher and backup forward Mark Madsen, who both had surgery July 3, probably won't be able to play until December, although Fisher hopes to return earlier.

"We're definitely way short," said Fisher, who missed the first 62 games last season after an operation for a stress fracture in his right foot and had the same problem crop up again. "When you're trying to win a championship, whether it's the first one or the third one, the key is to stay healthy.

"We won't win a championship in November. At the same time, things can have a longer effect than you'd like. There's always time, but it's nerve-racking."

Madsen had a left wrist operation.

The Lakers will have at least two new starters for their opener - at power forward, where newcomer Samaki Walker will likely replace the departed Horace Grant, and in the backcourt, where Lindsey Hunter, another newcomer, is the probable replacement for Fisher.

"I just see us improving, coming out of the gate strong," Bryant said. "It's pretty easy to stay motivated."

The Lakers were a record 15-1 in the playoffs after an up-and-down regular season.

"The end was a little surprising considering how we conducted ourselves in the first 70 games or so," Fox said. "It kept it interesting for us. I don't suspect it will be easy this season. Each time we win the championship, the bull's-eye gets a little bigger."

O'Neal again criticized the new rule allowing zone defenses, saying he expected to be defended the same way he was in college.

"Like a box-and-one," he said. "It will probably take something off my scoring average. Putting in a zone defense is not going to make the game better. We gave the people a good show."