Lebron James

I love showcasing my talents - not only to my hometown fans and my own team but to the world.

My father wasn't around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, 'Why me? Why don't I have a father? Why isn't he around? Why did he leave my mother?' But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, 'I don't know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?'

But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn’t know they could go. I see myself as a mentor now and I’m excited to lead some of these talented young guys.

I love sharing the ball with my teammates. I see a lot of things before my teammates see them.

Every night on the court I give my all, and if I'm not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself.

Once you become a professional athlete or once you do anything well, then you're automatically a role model ... I have no problem being a role model. I love it. I have kids looking up to me and hopefully I inspire these kids to do good things.

Ask me to play. I'll play. Ask me to shoot. I'll shoot. Ask me to pass. I'll pass. Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate. Anything. But it's not what you ask of me. It's what I ask of myself.

I hate letting my teammates down. I know I'm not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don't feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.

For me, already being part of a single parent household and knowing it was just me and my mom, you'd would wake up times and hope that the next day you'd be able to be alongside your mother because she was out trying to make sure that I was taken care of. But all I cared about was her being home.

When I was 5, some financial things happened, and I moved seven times in a year. We moved from apartment to apartment, sometimes living with friends. My mom would always say, 'Don't get comfortable, because we may not be here long.'

Where I grew up - I grew up on the north side of Akron, lived in the projects. So those scared and lonely nights - that's every night. You hear a lot of police sirens, you hear a lot of gunfire. Things that you don't want your kids to hear growing up.

I just do what I got to do and go out and be myself, on and off the court, and take care of my obligations. That's generally your own destiny-knowing what you have to take care of.

I'm going to use all my tools, my God-given ability, and make the best life I can with it.

Sometimes the coaches tell me to be selfish, but my game won't let me be selfish.

Commitment is a big part of what I am and what I believe. How committed are you to winning? How committed are you to being a good friend? To being trustworthy? To being successful? How committed are you to being a good father, a good teammate, a good role model? There's that moment every morning when you look in the mirror: Are you committed, or are you not?

I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed.

In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.

I don't need too much. Glamour and all that stuff don't excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball in my life.

You become a champion as a team. I understand that. I know the history of the game.

If it wasn't for the determination and the will power we have in each other, we wouldn't have pulled through and got this win. Much respect to Spain, but the U.S. is back on top again.

A team can't work when a guy puts himself in front of a team. I have yet to be on a team like that.