Only two players -- Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon -- have won MVP and DPOY in the same season, MJ in '88 and The Dream in '94. So it's a very rare occurrence, even though you'd expect most MVPs to be quite good on both sides of the ball. (We're ignoring
Steve Nash's back-to-back trophies here.)
Honestly, LeBron should have been in serious consideration in each of the last five years, including 2012-13; he'll mark his fifth straight first team All-Defense selection when that team is announced.
LeBron finished No. 2 behind Dwight Howard in 2009, and has two fourth place finishes since, as well as an odd No. 9 finish in 2011. So he's floated around consideration, but never been a favorite to win it. The question is if he scored 15 points per game and wasn't a serial Player of the Month, would his defense get more attention? I certainly think so: very rarely is LeBron's defense discussed specifically and removed from his overall incredible play. We acknowledge that he's a great, versatile defender, and then we move on.