LeBron James: never woke up after I brushed my teeth like, ‘Yeah, this is my league. I’m the face of the league. Goddamn it — shine’s up! I’ma shine something up!’ But I did know there was a responsibility put on me — to carry the league in a certain fashion. You gotta think: before I entered the league, and right after MJ retired — after he came back the second or third time — yeah, he came back and was done with Washington… There was a big fan-player separation in our league. People just weren’t resonating with a lot of the players. A lot of the guys didn’t really care — or whatever the case may be. And I felt like… in order for me to make a name for myself — obviously, I knew the play was going to take care of itself, because I knew how much I committed to it — But I also wanted to handle the responsibility of showing the face of the league… in the sense of being a modern citizen. You know — being a role model.”