Inside the Sixers: New Sixers owners need to make a couple of immediate off-court improvements

Aron has promised changes to the team's in-game experience.

It must be fresh, creative, and interactive: history and technology as enthusiastic as one of Holiday's left-handed jams.

The team's practice facility. The Sixers practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on City Avenue, about 11 miles from the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly. Some NBA teams' facilities might be more inconvenient, but none come to mind.

The Portland Trail Blazers practice center is a beautifully situated, stand-alone compound just outside Portland; the Phoenix Suns' practice court is about six steps, one cement hallway, from their game-day floor; and you could park in the same lot and walk to either the Sacramento Kings' practice facility or into their arena.

In the free-agent sweepstakes, these things matter. Just like it matters to a high school recruit when he walks into the University of Texas locker room and sees a flat-screen TV sparkling inside a locker. Players around the league talk to one another and players know which teams have nicely appointed facilities - and which teams don't.

Nothing illustrates this point better than the movie Just Wright. In it, Sixers power forward Elton Brand makes an appearance as himself, outside the Sixers' practice facility. Except it isn't the team's actual practice facility. It's a much nicer, much sleeker, imaginary practice facility.

There are a dozen possible reasons for this, most likely having to do with the fact Brand was in Los Angeles and the shoot was in L.A.

But the point remains: The team's current practice facility isn't the kind of place you'd want for a movie shoot.

Harris, Aron & Company have made promises. The team's future depends on their follow-through.

Contact staff writer Kate Fagan at kfagan@phillynews.com or @DeepSixer3 on Twitter. Read her blog, "Deep Sixer," at www.philly.com/deepsixer