LeBron James lost the 2013 DPOY to Marc Gasol who didn't even make the 2013 All-Defensive first team. Surprisingly, despite being named the DPOY, Gasol didn't even get selected to the All-Defensive first team.LeBron James lost the 2013 DPOY to Marc Gasol who didn't even make the 2013
But perhaps the Defensive Player of the Year award has become special to James. It is, after all, one of the few major awards he hasn't won. He has won Rookie of the Year, MVP (four times), All-Star Game MVP (twice), Finals MVP (twice), Player of the Month (26 times) and Player of the Week (45 times).
At the conclusion of the 2008–09 season, James finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award voting and made his first NBA All-Defensive Team, posting 23 chase-down blocks and a career-high 93 total blocks.
Michael Jordan is one of five players to have won both an MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award in their career. David Robinson won the award in the 1991–92 NBA season. Gary Payton was the first point guard to win the award. Dwight Howard won the award in three consecutive years (2009–2011).
He was All-Star game MVP three times and Defensive Player of the Year. He was all-defensive first team nine times and the NBA scoring leader 10 times.
Dwight Howard has won the Defensive Player of the Year award 3 times in his career.
NBA Honors: All-Defensive Teams
Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant were selected for the First Team 9 times each.
James is a four-time league MVP with four championship rings, but he won his only scoring title in 2008 with Cleveland. The 18-time All-Star was attempting to become the oldest scoring champion in NBA history by surpassing Michael Jordan, who was 35 when he won his final title.
LeBron James and his 2013 DPOY snub: What went down
There are two main regrets when it comes to the 2013 season and LeBron James. He missed out on becoming the first league MVP by a unanimous choice and failed to join Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to win MVP and DPOY in the same season.
LeBron James Says He Is Still Pissed He Didn't Win 2013 Defensive Player Of The Year Award - Fadeaway World.
Marc Gasol won the trophy, and James' best chance to win the DPOY ended with another second place. Gasol grabbed 30 first-place votes, and James was second with 18. However, advanced stats do not really show it was a great defensive year for James.
LeBron James had his best defensive rating this season, with a 111.4 rating.
All-Defensive Teams
Michael Jordan made the All-Defensive First Team nine times throughout the course of his career. Kobe has made the All-Defensive First Team eight times in his career and the All-Defensive Second Team twice. Jordan also won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1988.
Shaq was a very good defender who played strong post defense and defended the rim well but was less effective in space. When motivated, Shaq was a physical freak who excelled on defense. But his conditioning and effort varied throughout his career and that kept him from being an all-time great defender.
LeBron James has the most All-NBA selections with seventeen. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan previously shared the record with fifteen. James also has the most All-NBA First Team honors with thirteen, while Bryant and Karl Malone are tied for second-most with eleven.
1. LeBron James - 13 All-NBA First Team Selections.
Part of the issue is based on how the award is decided upon. Each year, the winner is selected by a panel of 124 sports broadcasters and analysts throughout the United States and Canada.
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While Smart and Payton are the only two point guards to have won it, there have been five shooting guards. It's been even longer since a shooting guard won it, though. The last one was Michael Jordan in 1988.
Rodman played at the small forward position in his early years before becoming a power forward. He earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice.