NBA PLAYOFFS / UPDATE : AROUND THE NBA : Rookie of Year? Take One Guess
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Associated Press
Shaquille O’Neal, the Orlando Magic’s backboard-smashing center, easily won the NBA rookie of the year award Thursday.
“I hope I can get an NBA championship trophy to go along with it,” O’Neal said, “so that when I retire and have children, I can tell my son, ‘I was bad.’ ”
The 7-foot-1 center received 96 of a possible 98 votes from a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters who regularly cover the NBA--three from each league city and 17 representing the national media.
Alonzo Mourning of the Charlotte Hornets received the other two votes.
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