Sixers' exec: Practice facility will be the best ever

THE 76ERS' NEW practice facility on the Camden waterfront will be be "biggest, largest and best practice facility in the history of the NBA," Sixers CEO Scott O'Neil told a packed room at the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey in Voorhees, N.J., yesterday morning.

O'Neil was there talking to business leaders to outline construction of the facility, which is due to be completed in August 2016. The project, announced last June, comes with $82 million in tax credits from the state and will allow the Sixers to move practice out of the Philadelphia College of Orthopedic of Medicine on City Avenue.

The 120,000-square-foot facility will be at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Delaware Avenue, by the Wiggins Marina and Susquehanna Bank Center. The Sixers have "started to move dirt around" in terms of actually building the complex, O'Neil said.

"The economic incentives provided by the state are spectacular," O'Neil said. "They give you a good opportunity to do what we think is kind of our DNA, which is, 'Can we leverage sports and, more specifically, the Sixers to make the world a little bit of a better place and right now?' Camden needs it. It's on the upswing.

"I think you've seen some of the work that has been done. The tax credits have brought up tremendous development by the waterfront. We're looking to be a part of something really special. And hopefully, 10 years down the road, if we can be just a small part of the renaissance in the city. We'd love to play that role."

The Sixers are the lone team in the NBA without their own practice facility, an oddity in a time of intense focus on yearlong training and monitoring players' health in professional sports, especially for an organization that has seen injured players Andrew Bynum, Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid come aboard in recent seasons.

With general manager Sam Hinkie joining the Sixers in May 2013 and O'Neil becoming CEO 2 months later, the newest band of basketball leaders in town, along with principal owner Joshua Harris and coach Brett Brown, is trying to alleviate those health concerns and the team's lack of recent success with a facility this huge and expensive.

O'Neil also noted that the team's business and front-office operations, currently at the Navy Yard, will make the journey across the Delaware River in December 2016 or January 2017.

Some more territorial Philadelphians might not be completely enthused at the idea of the team placing its the business and basketball offices in another state, despite the proximity to the Camden waterfront, which is only a ferry ride away.

Considering that Harris, O'Neil and the Sixers are only tenants at the Wells Fargo Center, it has become apparent that the organization wants to carve out its own space in a way that makes financial sense. Judging by their team-rebuilding methods, the Sixers aren't afraid of trying something new and the reaction it will bring.

"I guess it depends on how you define Philadelphia," O'Neil said when asked about building a facility outside the city's limits. "For us, it's like the 11 counties, plus Philly, so you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody in Medford or Voorhees or Haddonfield or Camden or anywhere in South Jersey that doesn't consider themselves part of the Philadelphia family.

"So the advantage for us, for Philadelphia, for Sixers fans, for South Jersey, for all of us, quite frankly, is to do something different and special," O'Neil said.

Sixers coach Brett Brown also spoke to business executives in attendance about the leadership role he's undertaken in the Sixers' dramatic rebuilding effort.

"Where in life do you get that opportunity very often?" Brown said, discussing the enticing challenge that came with joining a team that had a completely blank slate two summers ago. It was a risky challenge for Brown, leaving his position as an assistant coach for an all-time great in Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, an organization he called "the basketball version of Disneyland," for a roster in Philly that's continuously adding rookies and youngsters.

O'Neil praised the way Brown has handled a team that is low on talent but high on heart. "He's an incredible guy that represents everything that's right about basketball and leadership," O'Neil said.

"When I accepted the position," Brown said, "you sort of zoom in on, 'Why did you take this and what do you have to do to flip it? What are the things you believe in and what are your values?' We came into this whole thing with development, trying to grow our young people.

"It's far beyond if they can shoot a jump shot. You're trying to get to 19-year-olds. You're trying to cultivate leaders. You're to compete on an NBA stage. It's not a video game. It's real. We spend so much time on developing the person and the player."

Twitter: @shamus_clancy