On Tuesday, January 26th, the 76ers revealed new details about their future home, which will be based in Camden, New Jersey near the Delaware River waterfront and Wiggins Park Marina. The facility, at 125,000 square feet in total size, will be the largest of its kind in the NBA, and consist of two main structures. One building will be the “front office headquarters,” and cater to the Sixers’ business staff. The second building, the “training complex,” will be dedicated solely to the Sixers’ comprehensive basketball operations department, and is the focus of this exclusive, “Future Home of the Sixers” multi-part series from Sixers.com.The first installment of the series was published Tuesday, on the heels of the team’s formal training complex announcement. The article examined the extent to which the Sixers developed a forward-thinking plan for the facility. President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Sam Hinkie, who recently led Sixers.com through the construction site, also explained the ways in which the training center has been designed to increase transparency, facilitate communication, and promote productive work habits. Another dimension of the training complex that the Sixers heavily prioritized is player amenities. This area is one of the main themes of this article, the second in the “Future Home of the Sixers” series. “The Four Seasons of practice facilities”Professional sports, similar to many other competitive industries, is an intense and often all-consuming arena. For athletes, coaches, and staff, time commitments extend far beyond gameday hours, especially once the season has gotten underway. Between practices, medical treatment, strength workouts, and other obligations, this division of the organization puts in long days and late nights. Therefore, the need for a full-service, comfortable, round-the-clock facility becomes that much more pressing and vital. “We think our players see that the best training in the world will be available to them 365 days a year right here at home, alongside your teammates,” said Sixers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Sam Hinkie during the tour he gave of the training complex.In addition to having the latest, up-to-date basketball-related features and equipment available, how else could the Sixers ensure that their training complex will be an appealing destination for players? Provide plenty of services to make them feel at home, minimize distractions, and make their lives easier. “We want this to be the ‘Four Seasons’ of practice facilities.” Hinkie said. “We spend a lot of time trying to help our players with anything that might take their focus off being the best, most resilient player they can be.” For starters, players will have their own exclusive entrance to the facility. Other guests, such as general visitors and media, will be required to access the building via an alternate doorway. The training complex will also boast an in-house concierge, who will be on-hand to welcome players as they walk in, and tend to whatever off the floor requests they might have. As mentioned in the first installment of this series, Hinkie’s and Brown’s offices will be positioned to the right of the players’ entrance. Directly in front of the entrance, however, is a set of stairs and an elevator that lead to the second story of the complex. Representing the centerpiece of that level is a 2,500 square foot restaurant with floor-to-ceiling views overlooking the water and the Philadelphia skyline, set to be of the most distinct element of the facility. This will feel nothing like a cafeteria, taking inspiration instead from luxurious but casual restaurants found in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, and London. A team of private chefs will provide custom meals for the players and staff daily. There will also be a coffee shop, lounge, and outdoor patio deck on the second floor, all westward-facing towards the Delaware River and Philadelphia’s Penn’s Landing.”This is the most communal space,” said Hinkie. “Over time, what it leads to is lots of casual conversations. Players and teammates, players and staff, colleagues. If you want to connect, eat with someone. The conversations I used to have over lunch with Dikembe Mutombo [in Houston, with the Rockets] don’t leave you. There’s a deeper level of understanding that flows out of sharing a meal together. And the next thing you know, there’s a college basketball game on that catches everyone’s attention for a while. Some Saturdays he would bring his son in and we’d put SpongeBob on while we talked and laughed.”
As much as the Sixers want the complex to be the ‘Four Seasons’ of training centers, with “class” and “luxury,” Hinkie said the building also has to feel “comfortable enough to walk around in your socks.””It’s not going to feel corporate at all. It’s going to feel airy–with lots of natural light–and super clean. Unbelievably clean, and everything well-stocked for whatever you need.”And, as Hinkie went on to discuss, the facility will have the capability to evolve for years to come.
“You need to be able to adjust”Adaptability was a concept that Sam Hinkie referenced repeatedly while leading his mid-January tour through the Sixers’ new training complex. Even in overseeing the development of a facility so advanced, Hinkie wanted to ensure time would not pass the Sixers’ investment by. “We obviously had to have lots of room for growth,” Hinkie said. “That’s why everything here was built to be flexible. And open. A lot of the buildings we visited, from trading floors to Bloomberg to tech startups, the level of transparency was really key and important for communication, and so it’s really built for growth so we can be here for decades.”Under Hinkie, the Sixers have aggressively bolstered their basketball operations department. Not only has Brett Brown’s group of assistants expanded and become more specialized over the years, the franchise has also devoted considerable resources to analytics, sports performance, and other areas.”Right now, I think somebody might look at the NBA, and look at our club, and say, ‘Oh my gosh, there are so many people already here.’ Now fast-forward a decade or two. It’s a competitive league. Everyone used to have one trainer. Then they had one strength coach. Now they have two of each. They have sports science folks. That’s likely to grow and grow and grow over time as we try to find any way we can to get a competitive edge. So it’s built for that. It’s not rigid at all. You just need to be able to adjust to it.”He added, “A lot of what we’re trying to do is say, ‘What won’t change?’ And then, ‘What might change?’ Our players will always shoot and practice and train and rehab. But let’s admit, most everything within those areas might change over a decade or two. We don’t know. So we tried to make it flexible.”That includes the section of the training complex set aside for the team’s training room, on the first floor, and bordering the courts as well. “Don’t think of a traditional training room with a bunch of fixed things,” said Hinkie. “Everything’s modular. So, if it’s the day that we need to spread everything out, and everyone foam roll, we can do it there. Sometimes we’ll have a recovery day and do team massage with 15 massage therapists at once. Everything is really open. We want to be flexible to be able to adjust to it as it comes.”Two other noteworthy non-traditionally designed player spaces at the Sixers’ forthcoming training complex will be the locker room, and a sizable pool designated for hydro therapy. Insights on these features, plus the impact that the Sixers’ headquarters will have on the Camden community, will appear in the third and final installment of the Sixers.com “Future Home of the Sixers” series. The article is set to be released early next week.
