Acie Law IV doesn't mind working without the boisterous crowds, the bright lights and the glamour of the NBA.

In fact, he doesn't need it right now.

Louie Favorite/AJC (ENLARGE)

Hawks guard Acie Law played in just 56 games, averaging 4.2 points and 2.0 assists, as a rookie.

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Not in the frame of mind he's been in since the Hawks' season ended with a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in a first round playoff series in early May.

These days Law has traded the limelight for a spotlight on his own personal challenge — the Hawks' point guard's sole focus is to regain the game that made him the No. 11 pick in the 2007 draft and shed the memories of an uneven rookie season plagued by injuries and lost opportunity.

That's why he's attacking the start of rookie/free agent mini-camp Monday, the Hawks don't begin summer league play in Salt Lake City until Friday, as the first official step of his comeback tour.

"I had high expectations for my rookie season and I didn't get to show off my game," Law said after sweating through a grueling workout on the Hawks' practice court last week. "I feel like I have so much to prove. This is the first step. But I'm really looking forward to training camp and proving to my teammates, the new general manager [Rick Sund] and coach that I can play.

"I'm just so hungry. And it's kind of like replaying the way things went for me in college, though I hate to go back to that, but it's true. People are doubting me, I've got something to prove. And I have to prove what I think I am, what I know I am."

Law's rookie season was a disappointment by any measure but especially when compared to the masterful showcase put on by Al Horford, who started at center all season and finished as the runner-up to Kevin Durant for Rookie of the Year honors.

Law played in just 56 games, missing 26 games due to injuries and complications from injuries that dogged him all year or coach Mike Woodson's decision to use someone else.

He averaged 4.2 points and 2.0 assists and shot a dreadful 20.6 percent (7-for-34) from beyond the 3-point line and just 40 percent from the floor.

The skills that had teams smitten with Law before the draft seemed to disappear as his rookie season moved from a promising start to an almost anonymous finish once the Hawks traded for Mike Bibby at the All-Star break.

Law averaged just 15.4 minutes per game, logging a total of 865 minutes on the season, limited time that both Law and Woodson admit now haven't allowed for any accurate evaluation of his potential.

"Unfortunately for Acie," Woodson said, "people are going to weigh his rookie season with Al Horford's. Al got the big minutes and he produced and Acie got minutes early and then he got hurt and then he came back and got hurt. He was on an off as far as injuries were concerned. As a coach, I just didn't have time to wait on him. And I probably didn't help him as much or like I needed to.

"That's also why its important this summer that we really push him and that in summer league he goes out wit the attitude that this is his team. I want him to just play and play freely and do the things I think he can do as a point guard."

That's why this week of work in mini-camp and the chance to run things in Salt Lake City are so appealing to Law, who save for a two-week break has been in the gym, weight room and therapy, for the wrist injury that cost him much of his rookie season, with military precision.

The Monday morning after the 4th of July holiday Law was in the gym with hardly any lights on, sprinting through his paces when Woodson came through the door to check on the new floor being put down and noticed Law working on the far end of the floor.

"Acie's a good pro in that way," Woodson said. "I think the sky is the limit for him because he's willing to put forth the effort, he's very good about taking coaching and he's going to get better.

"The bottom line is this, when I got desperate coming down the home stretch last season I'm the one that shrunk the rotation," Woodson said. "Nobody did that but me. My coaches fought me on it. But I thought it was the right thing for us to do in terms of making a serious run to get that playoff spot. It worked out in our favor, but if I had it to do all over again I wish I would have played [Law] a little bit more. But that's hindsight now."

While Law appreciates his coach's attempt to take some responsibility for the unrealized expectations of his rookie season, he's not buying into anyone else owning his destiny.

"That doesn't mean anything to me," Law said of the explanations other people have for his uneven rookie season. "If coach wasn't comfortable with me on the floor that means I have to do a better job of making him feel comfortable with me playing. I have to a better job of that this summer and then again in training camp to make sure that everybody is comfortable with me on that floor.

"That's why I'm here now working with [strength and conditioning coach] Chattin [Hill] and trying to get my body in tip-top shape for what I know is coming. And I'm going to be here. I'm going to be right here waiting on everybody to get back here for training camp. And I won't let up."