Who do we have to beat to get respect?

[Dejay]

When you say respect you mean as a championship contender?

Boston gets respect because they have won it. Cleveland and Miami got whatever respect they had because of Lebron and Wade and virtually every team that has ever won the championship has had a top 5 player on the roster.

The Hawks don't have a superstar- for them to get respect it would take then winning in the second round of the playoffs. Respect is when teams don't want to face you in the playoffs. Right now the Hawks are a team that others want to face in the second round and thats not going to change until they take someone down.

What he said.

Miami has respect, not because of what they didn't do the last couple of years but because they have not one but TWO superstar-level players on their team, playing in the prime of their careers, who both carried squads to the Finals. Throw in Bosh and that's a team that while you don't have to like them, you have to respect them. The Hawks don't have a single guy on that level.

Boston gets respect because they've been to the Finals twice in the last three years and came one bad quarter away from winning BOTH TIMES. While there's not a red-blooded Hawks fan on this board who likes the Celtics, you still have to respect what they've done.

To get the shine/respect folks are looking for you have to have the following...

1) Championship-level pedigree. You have to have been to at least a conference finals to be taken seriously as an elite-level franchise within the last five years. You can't talk about what you're going to do in the playoffs when there's no record of you doing anything of note. Winning Game 7s at home against undermanned Heat and Bucks teams aren't going to get you noticed, especially when it could be argued that they shouldn't be taking you to a Game 7 in the first place. That's why teams like the Spurs, Mavericks, and Suns, who haven't been there in awhile still get props from the national media while our squad is laughed at by their fans when mentioned in the same breath.

2) Superstars who've been to at least a conference finals. How many times do we have to hear that the Pistons squad who won it all several years ago was the EXCEPTION TO THE RULE? Every other team in the last 30 years who made it to the Finals have had at least one HOF-caliber player carrying their squads to the promised land. Do the Hawks currently have the guy? No need to respond because we all know the answer.

So in a nutshell, the Hawks won't get the 'attention/praise' folks here are looking/expecting them to receive from the national folks until they get a superstar-caliber player and/or at the very least become more competitive in the second round of the playoffs. It may get a rise from us when they beat on the Celtics in December but no one outside of the metro area who aren't Hawk fans really care because all they have to do is trot out the upteen times they folded in the playoffs like a cheap card table in order to shut us up.

Until that changes (and it won't until they get said player or until spring), we'll get the obligatory pats on the head by the national folks if/when we beat Orlando, Boston, LA, or Team Voltron, while within the same five seconds, they're giving every excuse in the book (back to back games, injuries, late night at Magic City, etc.) on why (insert elite team here) lost in the first place. No matter how many games in a row they win to start out the season, folks nationally and locally are in complete 'show me' mode when it comes to the Hawks; similar to how they were with the Braves 5-8 years ago when just about every playoff team tossed champagne on each other in the middle of Turner Field in October.

GAME, SET, MATCH...

Edited November 1, 2010 by Dejay

[Joker]

What he said.

Miami has respect, not because of what they didn't do the last couple of years but because they have not one but TWO superstar-level players on their team, playing in the prime of their careers, who both carried squads to the Finals. Throw in Bosh and that's a team that while you don't have to like them, you have to respect them. The Hawks don't have a single guy on that level.

Boston gets respect because they've been to the Finals twice in the last three years and came one bad quarter away from winning BOTH TIMES. While there's not a red-blooded Hawks fan on this board who likes the Celtics, you still have to respect what they've done.

To get the shine/respect folks are looking for you have to have the following...

1) Championship-level pedigree. You have to have been to at least a conference finals to be taken seriously as an elite-level franchise within the last five years. You can't talk about what you're going to do in the playoffs when there's no record of you doing anything of note. Winning Game 7s at home against undermanned Heat and Bucks teams aren't going to get you noticed, especially when it could be argued that they shouldn't be taking you to a Game 7 in the first place. That's why teams like the Spurs, Mavericks, and Suns, who haven't been there in awhile still get props from the national media while our squad is laughed at by their fans when mentioned in the same breath.

2) Superstars who've been to at least a conference finals. How many times do we have to hear that the Pistons squad who won it all several years ago was the EXCEPTION TO THE RULE? Every other team in the last 30 years who made it to the Finals have had at least one HOF-caliber player carrying their squads to the promised land. Do the Hawks currently have the guy? No need to respond because we all know the answer.

So in a nutshell, the Hawks won't get the 'attention/praise' folks here are looking/expecting them to receive from the national folks until they get a superstar-caliber player and/or at the very least become more competitive in the second round of the playoffs. It may get a rise from us when they beat on the Celtics in December but no one outside of the metro area who aren't Hawk fans really care because all they have to do is trot out the upteen times they folded in the playoffs like a cheap card table in order to shut us up.

Until that changes (and it won't until they get said player or until spring), we'll get the obligatory pats on the head by the national folks if/when we beat Orlando, Boston, LA, or Team Voltron, while within the same five seconds, they're giving every excuse in the book (back to back games, injuries, late night at Magic City, etc.) on why (insert elite team here) lost in the first place. No matter how many games in a row they win to start out the season, folks nationally and locally are in complete 'show me' mode when it comes to the Hawks; similar to how they were with the Braves 5-8 years ago when just about every playoff team tossed champagne on each other in the middle of Turner Field in October.

GAME, SET, MATCH...

You just have to have the media favorite players. Derrick Rose never been pass the 1st round but he gets love. To be honest, ppl really don't like the Hawks players like that except, GM's, players, and our personal fans. We just weren't fun to watch for most.

[Iman]

After falling on our face twice in the second round of the playoffs, we are no longer a fashionable pic. Chicago and Milwaukee are currently the new Eastern conference pics to be on the rise. We just need to keep a top 4 seed and eventually some media support will come back our way. I can see why though, we seem to have already shown that we are a tough team but not really a contender. Other teams will have to fall to us unless we decide to make big trade, etc. Boston and LA might have been aging and falling to us but then here came Miami and Orlando already seems to own us. I guess that's really the key, figure out how to turn the tables on Orlando.