Joshua Harris Emphasizes Long Term Focus In Sixers' Rebirth
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Training Camp for the Sixers marks the beginning of a second year of a plan to completely overhaul the franchise to set it on a process that will lead to sustainable success.
The definition of success for the team is consistent deep playoff runs and NBA titles.
On Friday afternoon, Sixers owner Joshua Harris met with reporters at Richard Stockton College, the home of the team's training camp, to express his confidence in the direction.
"I feel like we've setup the culture," Harris said while talking about building this team into a consistent winner. He stressed that this is only year two of a long run plan mapped out by himself, Sam Hinkie and the rest of the Sixers' brass.
The long term nature of the plan is what makes it unique. The unknown has led to questions from critics and the fan base.
The pressure is felt by Harris, but he is committed to staying the course.
"My philosophy is that you're only here for a short amount of time so you have to get busy and add value everyday," Harris stressed. "But, at the same time, there are no shortcuts to building excellence."
The Sixers are in no way looking for shortcuts. Nerlens Noel sat out the entire season a year ago. Joel Embiid will more than likely do the same and one of the franchise's most talent players is a foreign prospect in Dario Saric who may not join the team for two or three seasons.
Patience appears to be present in every facet of the organization at this point. The team announced earlier this year that they were building a new practice facility in Camden, NJ and even that is something that Harris admits is being meticulously planned.
"We'll be starting work on [the facility] sometime around the end of the year. It will be a 120,000 square foot practice facility, the largest in the NBA," Harris raved. "It will be the best, most state of the art practice facility in the NBA."
Harris mentioned that even that process has been somewhat delayed because Hinkie, head coach Brett Brown and other team officials have all wanted input to make sure that it is the perfect home for the team.
Despite all the detailed planning and calculated risk, the team cannot definitely pinpoint when the transformation from a pretender to a contender will be complete. Harris did promise the fans one thing in terms of on-court performance.
"We're going to get better from here every season." Harris qualified that statement by emphasizing that the improvement might not be clearly evident in the standings, but it will show in terms of the organization's overall growth.
The Sixers owner is well aware of some people's skepticism in the plan, but he feels like the core fan base is on board with what the team is doing so the franchise can elevate to a level it has not seen in decades.
"Philly's tired of being mediocre," Harris said and no fan of the team would disagree with that. However, there are still those that have not bought into the vision. Harris would speak to those saying "This is the best way for us to win an NBA Championship."
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