Shaq has been as dominant in his era as Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, or Malone ever were. No one was ever as dominant as Chamberlain, but Shaq has been a similar player. Like Wilt, he is the man from whom there is no defense, the man who every team would love to have anchoring the center of the front line.

In his rookie season, 1992-93, he took the Magic from 21-61 to 41-61. By his third season, he had taken the team to the NBA finals, where it lost to Olajuwon’s Houston team — a more experienced and much better team than the young Magic.

After four years in Orlando, he went to the Lakers and took that team to the top, leading it to three consecutive titles from 2000-2002. And it was only in that first championship year, 1999-2000, that Shaq won the only MVP of his career.

You look back at the annual votes, and some of them make no sense at all. In 1994, Shaq finished fourth behind Olajuwon, Robinson and Scottie Pippen, despite having the best all-around stats – 29.3 points and 13.2 boards – of any of them.

In 1995, he outscored MVP winner Robinson, 29.3-27.6, and outrebounded him, 11.4-10.8, and finished second in the voting.

In 1996-97, Shaq was injured and limited to about 50 games each season. The following year, Michael Jordan won. In 1999, Shaq again had dominant stats, yet finished sixth, with Karl Malone winning what many saw as a lifetime achievement MVP.

Shaq won in 2000, but the following year, when Allen Iverson won –- and deservingly so, Shaq outscored Tim Duncan by more than five points a game, slightly outrebounded Duncan, and had more assists and still finished in third place, behind Duncan.

He could have won in 2002, but missed about 15 games in each of the following two seasons and lost votes for that.

Every year you could make an argument for someone else, but too often it seems to come down to voters going for someone else who isn’t as big and strong and is thus seen for whatever reason as more deserving.

Wilt Chamberlain said it best a long time ago: “Nobody roots for Goliath.”

Despite that, he won his four trophies. And Shaquille O’Neal, the man who turned the Heat from just another struggling team into the best in the East and a favorite for the title, still has just one.

It makes no sense.

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