If You Build It Philadelphia 76ers Will Come

The Philadelphia 76ers have taken rebuilding to a new level. Simultaneously rebuilding the roster into a championship caliber team, they are also building a state of the art training facility.

Brick and mortar, iron and steel. These are not common elements when you find yourself locked into a conversation about an NBA team rebuild. But that is what the Philadelphia 76ers are involved in.  At least, in term of their new training facility.  You see, the Sixers are at the cutting edge of professional sports innovatins. The team employs a sports science program, which has been immediately valued in oversight of center Joel Embiid‘s recovery following his second surgery.  The team makes optimum use of basketball analytics, even expanding the staff in the off-season.   Analytics is an objective means to measure, chart, and draw conclusions about events in basketball like shot selections, optimal defenses, and the like.  It accelerates a learning curve for young players while redirecting the focus of veterans to try something new to improve.

Analytics is also a tool to examine championship team construction.  From the first player to show signs of elitism, a team has a short window to compile the rest of the pieces around him.  That is what the current roster is aimed at for these Sixers. With the emergence of Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, hot handed Robert Covington, point guard tandem of Ish Smith and T.J. McConnell and the arrival of Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, this Sixers roster is already peaking simultaneously. The Coup de’ Grace arrives in the 2016 off-season.

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From the moment the 2016 20 man roster, they will encounter the Sixers wide ranging support staff, and a brand new state of the art training facility.

In the off-season, we discussed how thoroughly the innovations of Sam Hinkie’s plan would take this team. It’s not just a roster with cheap but huge upside prospects. It’s not just a team running on the minimum salary cost today, making room for big salaries tomorrow to players who warrant the investment, but it’s a complete 360 degree investment in training, feeding, improving, and developing young men as they grow into NBA elite.  In time, all of these innovations coupled with the maturing talent on the roster with make fans and players alike sit up and take notice.  

When you click on the link, you are transported to the Sixers Training Complex website. The facility will be situated on 125,000 square feet campus in the Camden New Jersey along the waterfront. The site will be marked with a 4000 square foot sign which will be visible in Philadelphia (the facility is in New Jersey). The facility will boast two basketball courts, a 70000 square foot roof deck, a hydrotherapy room, a 2800 square foot locker room, a state-of-the-art private players restaurant, innovation health and wellness centers, a Larry O’Brien Trophy room, a board room and sales center that overlooks the basketball courts, and will house 250 employees, including the largest sales staff of any NBA team.  The facility will even include a media production center, used both in analytics and in media efforts to communicate team events.  Throughout the facility, Sixers stories will be commemorated by narratives and images on display.  In short, it is a crown jewel of the Philadelphia 76ers team, and will be open 24 hours a day seven days a week.

"“Our commitment to player development will shine through in this facility.Our goal is to provide our players and staff with a Training Center that fosters development, encourages hard work, and allows for innovation. In designing the basketball operations facility we pulled inspiration from the most cutting-edge sports medicine, wellness, and recovery practices from leagues, teams, and sport disciplines across the world. We challenged ourselves to create a 24/7 destination for our players’ physical and mental needs. Two full side-by-side training courts with ten baskets to shoot on is the heart of the building. Amenities such as an exclusive, covered player’s entrance, a fully-stocked private restaurant, and a dedicated concierge will encourage year-round visits to the training facility, allowing our players to focus on the everyday training of their body and mind.” – said Sixers President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Sam Hinkie at the announcement in June 2014"

The firms involved in the Training Center project include AthenianRazak, a Philadelphia-based real estate services company, which serves as the Development Manager for the project. In this role, they assist with the process of designing and erecting the facility, which includes obtaining required approvals and permits, assembling and coordinating a team of design professionals, contractors and other consultants for the project, managing cash flow and financing sources, overseeing the detailed hands-on management of the construction process and helping the Sixers prepare the facility for efficient acceptance and operation.

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Also involved in the project is INTECH Construction, a Philadelphia-based contractor, which serves as the project’s Construction Manager, and architecture and engineering provided by Jacobs Global Buildings Design as the architect of record, along with nationally recognized architecture firm Threesixty Architecture as the consulting design architect.

By the time the 2016 roster is set, the team should be close to occupying their new training home.   If you haven’t guessed yet, the Philadelphia 76ers organization if rather optimistic about the future.  And to be honest, so am I.