Ivey Ready To Prove Doubters Wrong - Again

By Micah Hart
www.nba.com

The 2004-05 edition of the Atlanta Hawks will be filled with players with something to prove. Al Harrington wants to show he is ready to lead a team. Antoine Walker wants to prove he is still an All-Star player. Chris Crawford wants to show he is healthy. And in the midst of all these chip-bearing shoulders is one player who has practically trademarked the phrase “exceeded expectations”: Hawks rookie guard Royal Ivey.

Ivey has heard the noise all his life: He’s not athletic enough. He’s not a good enough ball-handler. He’s not a good enough shooter.

“I’ve always been an underdog,” said Ivey, a player who was so lightly recruited out of high school his father didn’t believe Texas coach Rick Barnes when he came to offer his son a scholarship. “Nobody expected me to do anything at each level. I just kept proving people wrong, and if I keep working at it I hope to do the same in the NBA.”

Ivey had a stellar prep career in fact, earning All-Queens honors from the New York Daily News as a senior. He led his high school, Cardozo, to the NYC Public Schools Athletic League title, earning MVP honors in the title game. Colleges still weren’t biting, so he went to Blair Academy in New Jersey for a post-graduate year to help improve his stock. The work paid off, as Barnes brought him down to Texas despite his father’s skepticism.

Expected to be a part-time contributor at best as part of the five-player class Barnes brought to Austin in the fall of 2000, Ivey instead played his way into the rotation very early, cementing a spot in the starting backcourt soon after the season began. By the time he left, he had started more games (126) than any player in Texas basketball history.

With such impressive credentials, Ivey was so highly regarded going into the 2004 NBA Draft that…he wasn’t included in the league’s draft guide, a program listing all of the prospects with a chance to get drafted.

Ivey wasn’t certain he would be either, which explains his surprise when deputy commissioner Russ Granik told a national TV audience the Hawks had picked the spindly 6-3 guard with the 37th pick of the second round.

“I was watching the draft at my friend’s lake house,” said Ivey. “My agent called me and said the Hawks were going to take me, and I was just overjoyed. I felt like my hard work paid off.”

While at Texas, Ivey established a reputation as one of the premier defenders in the country, and it was that defensive mentality that intrigued the Hawks.

“Royal is a competitor,” said Hawks GM Billy Knight. “He does not back down from anyone, and he is willing to work hard to improve. He reminds me a lot of Eric Snow. If he continues to work at it, and improve his shooting and decision making, he has a chance to be a good NBA player.”

Ivey, a two-time All-Big 12 Defensive Team selection in college, has heard the comparison to Snow before, even mentioning him as a role-model when he worked out for the Hawks before the draft.

“It’s a compliment,” he says. “Snow has been in the league a long time and has a great reputation.”

With long arms that allow him to guard much taller players and great footwork developed from his childhood as a dancer (Cardozo is a performing arts magnet school in New York City where Ivey took classes in ballet, hip-hop, tap, and modern dance), he gives the coaching staff multiple options on the defensive end of the floor.

Ivey hopes to contribute in on the other end of the court as well, as he played point guard off and on in college and scored often enough to pass the 1,000-point mark for his career. The key, he says, is to stay motivated.

“I’ve been motivated since the day I first picked up a ball,” said Ivey. “I slipped through the cracks, but that happens to a lot of people. You just have to keep working and have a positive mindset. I know it’s all on my shoulders to get better, so I just keep working to do that.”

Ivey figures to mesh well with new Hawks coach Mike Woodson’s defensive philosophy, but will face stiff competition for minutes in the backcourt. With veterans like Tony Delk, Kenny Anderson, and Jon Barry (and youngsters like Boris Diaw), Ivey will have his hands full trying to get time on the court.

Can he earn his way into the Hawks rotation in his first season? Time will tell. But at this point, you should doubt Ivey at your own peril.

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