LeBron James: How Heat Star Has Reformed His Image as Tough Competitor

LeBron James has come a long way in terms of improving his reputation as a highly skilled but sometimes extremely soft player.

For a 6’8”, 250-pound beast of a man, the Heat superstar seemed to often play up injuries and let them affect his play, both mentally and physically.

For instance, during the 2010 playoffs, a huge storyline between the Cavaliers—James’ team at the time—and the Celtics involved the King playing up a troublesome right elbow. At one point in the previous series against the Bulls, he even shot a lefty free throw to make sure the entire world knew he was aching. Cleveland lost the series in six games.

While he’s known for missing time, as he has played in 674 out of a possible 704 games during his eight-plus-year career, the public perception of LeBron makes it seem like he uses minor injuries as an excuse for his sometimes poor play—especially in the clutch.

James is trying to repair that image and has been toughing out a number of injuries in 2011-12 that would certainly sideline some lesser men.

Right now, he’s playing through a dislocated ring finger on his left hand and has no plans to let it bother him, according to Michael Wallace of ESPN.

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"I've still got work to do," James said after the Heat's practice in preparation for Thursday's home game against the Dallas Mavericks in a matchup of last season's NBA Finals. "I'll be ready. I hate using injuries as an excuse. If I'm in uniform, then I should be good to go. The only recovery for it, the doctors told me, was rest. And I think we all know I'm having none of that."

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This comes on the heels of him receiving some hard hits against the Phoenix Suns on March 20.

After taking a hard foul from Markieff Morris, LeBron apparently re-aggravated his infamous right-elbow injury. But that wasn’t the worst he would suffer that game.

When he was attempting to steal a Steve Nash outlet pass in the final minute of a game still up for grabs, James collided with Grant Hill and took a nasty blow to the head. He remained on the floor for several minutes after.

Trainers determined he was fine after the game and when asked if he ever suffered a concussion before, King James responded, "No, I'm too tough for that.”

The superstar forward has only missed one game this season because of a sprained right ankle and it doesn’t look like he will miss any more with less than a month left.

If he can keep that up through the postseason, LeBron might not be thought of as a soft player at all anymore.