By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

As a player at the University of Cincinnati, Immanuel McElroy didn't feel like he needed to shoot much. He was a defensive stalwart, named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in his senior year. Offense was more of an afterthought.

Now, it's his shot that could be the key to making his NBA dreams come true.

McElroy (left) hasn't given up on his NBA dream. (Special to the Enquirer)

McElroy is in his second year playing professionally for the Continental Basketball Association. He moved to the Gary Steelheads this season after his Grand Rapids team folded after the 2003 season.

The Steelheads will make their first-ever CBA playoff appearance when they begin a best-of-five game series tonight against the Dakota Wizards.

One year after being named CBA Rookie of the Year, McElroy, a 6-foot-4 guard, has improved his confidence and his shooting, his coach says.

He's averaging 16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists, and his 64.6 percent field goal percentage is second-best in the CBA. And, he hasn't lost his defensive touch, either. McElroy was named to the CBA All-Defensive Team on Monday.

"I've had to do a lot of scoring. It didn't take me that long to get comfortable. I knew I had to," McElroy said. "That's what people wanted to see - if I could score. I always used to hear, 'Can he score? He scored in junior college, but can he shoot here?' So I keep working, working, working to improve."

And he's hoping all his work will pay off soon.

McElroy's stats, his athletic ability and his defensive strength have attracted several NBA scouts this year. His agent, Guy Zucker, said he's talked to representatives from Boston, Indiana, Atlanta, Toronto, Denver and Philadelphia. And the teams are interested, if McElroy can keep improving one thing.

"His biggest challenge is to consistently hit the outside shot and to hit 3-point shots," Zucker said. "If he can do that, most scouts agree that he can be in the NBA ... If he keeps getting better and better, there's really no limit to what he can do."

"He can go to the basket on anyone, but he needs to take it out," Steelheads coach Duane Ticknor said.

So McElroy, a player who's known for his strong work ethic, puts in overtime. He focuses on his perimeter jump shot in games. And he stays in the gym - sometimes hours after practice - shooting over and over while a team equipment manager rebounds for him.

"He's in early and stays late," Ticknor said. "He puts the time in. We have coaches here to work with the players, and he's taken advantage of that."

It's all for the ultimate goal of being called up to an NBA team. Thirteen players have been brought to the NBA from the CBA this season. With just one weekend left in the CBA regular season, it's unlikely McElroy will get a call this year. But he and Zucker are already making summer plans to improve his chances of landing a spot on an NBA team next year.

McElroy hopes to get on one or two NBA summer league teams, which begin play mid-July and could potentially end with a spot in an NBA team's training camp. Zucker also plans to enter him in a European exposure camp in Columbus from June 18-20. McElroy, who has a wife and two children, said he'll give it one more year in the CBA before thinking about moving overseas.

Zucker compares McElroy's situation to one of his other clients - the Toronto Raptors' Michael Curry, president of the NBA Player's Association. Curry emerged from Georgia Southern in 1990 undrafted by the NBA. He played abroad and on three minor league teams before starting a 10-year NBA career.

"I'm very much giving Mac Mike's model," Zucker said. "He wasn't a guy that was supposed to make it, but worked and came out to stay in the NBA for 10 years."

That's what McElroy's shooting for.

"I can't see what's going to happen," McElroy said. "I can only go out and try my best to do what I can to get there."