How do you deal with your "problem Soldier"?

I was friends with a PFC before he was assigned my soldier. Knowing this may complicate the leadership role, I stopped hanging out with him on the weekend. The soldier was consistently late to work and used every excuse to get out of work. Every time I talked to him about why he was late or unable to be found he had an excuse. I tried talking to him to see if he had issues making arriving to work on time an issue. When that didn't work, I moved on to corrective action. I.E. Showing up to work 10 minutes earlier or calling me when on the way to work. Half of the time he wouldn't even do that. My next step was to move on to written counselings. My NCOIC wanted to recommend him for an article 15. I asked for another chance to straighten out my soldier, and was granted my request. No matter what angle I took, I was unable to get the point across to him. I am new to the leadership role and am still trying to find my balance. Any advice about how to handle soldiers like this?