No Respect - - Not yet.

[Gray Mule]

The Rodney Dangerfiels of the NBA. That's us.

WHY??

We're winning - We have a THREE game winning streak.

We hard core Hawk fans are estatic! We're in 1st. place,

all alone.

Why do we get no respect??

Because it has to be earned. Right now, Hawks, despite

what we want to believe, are just a flash in the pan.

Many, those who follow us only casually, as the national

media, expect to see the Hawks plummet after a few more

games. They think, Hawks have won three games.

So what. There's still lots and lots of games left

to be played.

We, the Hawks fans who follow the team closely, know that

there is a change going on with this team. We've had

another year's experience playing together as a team

and our young players, the youngest in the NBA, have

matured another year.

We knew where our worst weaknesses were and addressed

those needs in the off season.

We have the strongest bench we've had in years. Adding

two veteran players and four, yes four, young kids

to our roster.

Concentrated effort from the entire team, something our

coach has stressed all along, ESPECIALLY on defense,

is now becoming a fact more than a dream.

RESPECT.

It has to be earned. We haven't yet, but we're working

on it.

Until last weeks crash, Falcons were tied for first place!

The Thrashers are well ahead in 1st place in Hockey!

Hawks are alone in first place!!!

ATLANTA, YOU'RE LOOKING PRETTY NICE RIGHT NOW IN THE PROS!!

[AtLaS]

I'm hoping we can have a season kind of like the '04 Nuggets. A team with no respect who's been horrible the last 7+ years and sneaks into the playoffs. That alone will make us a top contender for Free Agents. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but if we ended up with Bibby or Billups we'd be a legit contender..

BTW Shelden (albeit not blocking shots or scoring much) has played GREAT defense, just watch him, noone is getting easy shots, his impact is definately felt, and only stat guru's (lol Walter) don't realize that. It's so weird watching our team not getting downright DESTROYED inside. I mean teams aren't even getting to the lane, our perimeter defense has also improved tremendously. Teams are taking TOUGH jumpshots, it makes me giddy just seeing it. It's like I actually have confidence in our D to get a stop, when last year I just KNEW the other team would score.

What's so great is that we've been almost horrible on offense and are still winning games. We had 19 TO's last night! Last year, our only chance was to come out and be on fire, and not turn the ball over. Even in our only loss to Philly we only gave up 88 points..

Once our offense clicks we will be really dangerous..

[cyman3]

or the ORLANDO MAGIC several years ago...

that barely missed the playoffs.

a team roster filled w/ no big names. ben wallace (pre-fame), chucky atkins, bo outlaw, pat garrity, etc.

i probably spelled half their names wrong, but they were a very good team.

[KB21]

Don't laugh, but the 2000-2001 New Jersey Nets went 26-56. The 2001-2002 New Jersey Nets went 52-30 and made the NBA Finals.

[GoDawgs21]

I think the biggest thing overlooked in the media and even on here is how big of an impact Jason Collier was last year. Last year was only the second year for these guys being togther. Its hard to imagine a young group of guys, losing their locker room guy and then start on that west coast road trip.

After the young guys got refocused we werent horrible last year. Its hard to imagine we still doubled our wins(i know that wasnt many to begin with) after that 0-9 and 2-15(?) start. The signs where there that this may be our year. Now if (knocking really hard on my desk) we can aviod any major injury or owner problem I think everyone will see what was pushed back from last year due to that tragic circumstance.

[Johnnybravo4]

Quote:

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I'm hoping we can have a season kind of like the '04 Nuggets. A team with no respect who's been horrible the last 7+ years and sneaks into the playoffs. That alone will make us a top contender for Free Agents. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but if we ended up with Bibby or Billups we'd be a legit contender..

BTW Shelden (albeit not blocking shots or scoring much) has played GREAT defense, just watch him, noone is getting easy shots, his impact is definately felt, and only stat guru's (lol Walter) don't realize that. It's so weird watching our team not getting downright DESTROYED inside. I mean teams aren't even getting to the lane, our perimeter defense has also improved tremendously. Teams are taking TOUGH jumpshots, it makes me giddy just seeing it. It's like I actually have confidence in our D to get a stop, when last year I just KNEW the other team would score.

What's so great is that we've been almost horrible on offense and are still winning games. We had 19 TO's last night! Last year, our only chance was to come out and be on fire, and not turn the ball over. Even in our only loss to Philly we only gave up 88 points..

Once our offense clicks we will be really dangerous..

---

I actually rather be the Bulls of 2 years ago. We kind of parallel them. Young players who are winning with defense. The only diff is that JJ is far better than Ben Gordon.

[Packfill]

Quote:

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Don't laugh, but the 2000-2001 New Jersey Nets went 26-56. The 2001-2002 New Jersey Nets went 52-30 and made the NBA Finals.

---

Bringing in Jason Kidd had a little something to do with that.

[BusBoyIsBack]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Don't laugh, but the 2000-2001 New Jersey Nets went 26-56. The 2001-2002 New Jersey Nets went 52-30 and made the NBA Finals.

---

Bringing in Jason Kidd had a little something to do with that.

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We may not win close to 50 games but dont be surprise to see us make the playoffs with the players we have added and the key one that was subtracted.