I'm a huge basketball fan. I think that much has been established.

Despite my unhealthy obsession with the hardwood, I had never before purchased a copy of Slam magazine, a publication dedicated entirely to basketball. After seeing Michael Jordan on the cover a few weeks ago, I decided to give Slam a whirl. In their August issue, Slam's editors offered up their end-all, be-all list of the fifty greatest basketball players of all time. The NBA did the same thing several years ago in celebration of its 50th anniversary. As the game has changed dramatically since then, Slam decided to update the list with a flair of their own.

As expected, their compilation is a veritable who's who of basketball legends: Jordan, Wilt, Russell, Bird, Magic, the Big O, Kareem, the Logo. Yet the number four player on their all-time list came as a big surprise. A very big surprise.

After apparently much deliberation and debate, Slam ranked Shaquille O'Neal as the fourth greatest NBA player ever, behind only Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, who would likely crack any fan's top three. But Shaq fourth? Really?

This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2009.