Based on an interview with Sund last season, he mentioned that the Hawks were elite and most people rediculed him. However, his definition of elite is

1.The elite teams are those that earn homecourt advantage in the first round and advance to the second round. 2.Your record at the end of the season( must be above 500 )against all the final four teams in your conference.Based on his definition, the Hawks were elite.

However, the media thinks only Miami and Chicago can be considered elite in the east.

What is an elite team in the NBA? What qualifies a team to be elite. Are the Hawks an elite team. Fellow bloggers, please help me in answering these questions.