Tim Hardaway Jr. kept the shovel.
That’s how important a new practice facility is to Hawks players. The guard actually took home the shovel he used during the groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of the complex Friday.
The partnership between the Hawks and Emory Healthcare will result in a $50 million building to open in October 2017. The Hawks’ new practice facility now has a name and an address.
The facility, located in Brookhaven’s Executive Park, will be called the Emory Sports Medicine Complex. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer and Hardaway unveiled a street sign for the location — Hawks Lane.
The Hawks’ side of the complex will be named Emory Healthcare Courts. The Emory Sports Medicine Center will house the entire sports medical division. The facility also will feature a location for P3, a world-renowned training facility located in Santa Barbara, Calif.
In citing a link between the past and the future, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin recalled that 40 years ago the team rented and trained out of a public health club about a mile from the new facility. Principal owner Tony Ressler said his priority in his first year of control was to transition the organization from the 19th century to the 21st. The training facilities inside Philips Arena were inferior, he said.
“The Atlanta Hawks are trying to establish itself as a world-class franchise for the foreseeable future,” Ressler said. “Having a practice facility in partnership with the best medical teams and entities in the world, with the kind of partners we have in P3, is such an advantage and such an important step for this franchise that I’m just truly so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in such a short time. I do believe that this is just the beginning of what the Atlanta Hawks are trying to be and to stand for. With our friends at Emory, we would argue that this will be as good a medical and practice facility as exists not just in the NBA but that exists in sports globally.”
The complex will occupy five of the 60 acres that Emory purchased in Executive Park. Several buildings will be demolished near the plot of land where the building will be constructed.
The Hawks see the complex as a jewel that will offer its players the best in training and healthcare and also attract other players to the team.
“It’s very important,” Hardaway said. “We are in the day and age now where practice facilities and sports facilities are a major steppingstone in bringing in key guys and franchise players. It’s great when you have a facility like this and what we are about to build right now with Emory. When you see a team do whatever they can to make their team better, this is the first step in that process.”
The partnership between the Hawks and Emory already is underway. Budenholzer said the team consulted with doctors on players with health concerns going into Thursday’s NBA Draft.
Budenholzer said players, coaches and management will be the lucky ones who will make the facility their home.
“We are the ones who are fortunate enough to get to live in it and feel it and breathe it every day,” he said. “It really is a game changer. We couldn’t be more excited, thankful and grateful.”
Hardaway will have a keepsake, with a volt-green handle of course, to mark the occasion of the franchise’s new future.
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