Training Camp

INDIANAPOLIS - The end came Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse - one of the best arenas in the NBA. Although it probably won't be officially announced until Thursday, Doug Collins oversaw his final game as 76ers coach against the Indiana Pacers. He will most likely be handed a consultant title and basically a buyout from the organization, and move on to something else that will keep his competitive fires burning. Or, he'll put them out for a while and just relax. After watching his team close out the season with a 105-95 win over the Indiana Pacers, Collins was asked about his future with the team.

Eagles running back Dion Lewis is on the trading block, according to NFL sources. Lewis is behind LeSean McCoy, Bryce Brown, and Chris Polk on the team's depth chart, and those three all offer size and skills that fit coach Chip Kelly's system better than Lewis. At 5-foot-8 and 195 pounds, Lewis is smaller than the other running backs. The 2011 fifth-round pick has 171 rushing yards on 36 career carries. His best game was the 2011 season finale, when he rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown.

The end of Andy Reid has led to the end of another era. After 17 years, hundreds of practices, and thousands of fans trekking up the Northeast Extension, the Eagles will no longer be holding training camp at Lehigh University. The three weeks of preseason practices will instead be held at the team's headquarters at the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia and at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles had been leaning in that direction for some time, according to Eagles president Don Smolenski.

Fans have long spoken fondly of their annual pilgrimages to Lehigh University for Eagles training camp. Yet a fair share of them were expressing support today for the team's decision to hold its summer workouts in South Philadelphia, with some practice sessions open to fans at Lincoln Financial Field. "I think it's great, just because the fact that they're going to be in the city now," said Bill on a cell to 94 WIP midday hosts Ike Reese and Michael Barkann. "... I've never been a training camp.

The Soul began their two-week arena football training camp Thursday at the Eagles' NovaCare Complex. "We have 11 or 12 players returning from last season, which means we're going to be putting another 12 or more new guys on the field," head coach Clint Dolezel said. The season opener is March 23 against the Arizona Rattlers at the Wells Fargo Center. Training Camp Schedule Friday: Physicals, 9-4 p.m. Saturday: Non-padded practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Sunday: Non-padded practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Monday: Non-padded practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesday: First padded practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesday: Practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday: Practice, 8:30-11:30 a.m. March 8: First cuts.

Jason Kelce walked across a stage at a local elementary school on Friday, showing no ill signs of a knee injury that halted his 2012 season in the second game. The Eagles center started running and doing field drills three weeks ago, roughly six months after the medial collateral ligament in Kelce's right knee was completely torn and the ACL was partially torn. He'll start plyometrics and cutting when a custom brace soon arrives. Kelce made an appearance on Friday at the W.D. Kelley Elementary School in Brewerytown to read to students as part of Read Across America Day. Students received a book of their choice and an Eagles bookmark and met Kelce, who read a poem.

The NHL's collective bargaining agreement was ratified Saturday and a memorandum of understanding was signed, meaning players and coaches can finally get on the ice together. The Flyers will open their six-day training camp in Voorhees at 11 a.m. Sunday - about four months late because of the NHL's labor dispute. There will be only a handful of job openings, but there will be some interesting questions at camp. Here are some of them: 1. How healthy are center Danny Briere and defenseman Andrej Meszaros?

   The 76ers finalized their training camp roster Thursday, adding four free agents and bringing the number of invited players to 17.    When the Sixers convene Tuesday on the campus of St. Joseph's University, Dan Gadzuric, Devin Searcy, Xavier Silas, and Damien Wilkins will be long shots to make a roster that already has 13 players signed to contracts. Silas, a 6-foot-5 guard, was on the playoff roster last season. He took an elbow to the head during a summer league game in Orlando in July that necessitated facial surgery.

BETHLEHEM - So, back to NovaCare. The Eagles aren't ready for the season to start, and they have 3 more weeks before it does, but when the moving trucks clog the road beside the fields at Lehigh and the team packs up to head home, that's always a benchmark of some sort. What have we learned? "The thing I was looking for, were they gonna carry over that energy that they had at the end of last season [when the Eagles won their final four games], that they brought into the OTAs, now could they bring it into this camp here?"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Eagles broke training camp at Lehigh University on Tuesday afternoon, and wisely did so before camp finally broke them. It wasn't a great camp, from a football perspective, and memorable only for tragedy off the field and an increasing number of question marks on it. Otherwise, the annual sojourn in the hills was just a slog through the grunt work that must be done leading up to the regular season. It could be as easily accomplished at the team's home training base - an option employed by nearly half the NFL teams now - but the Eagles like giving fans a chance to see them practice, and Andy Reid still believes in the throwback concept of team-bonding at an isolated camp.