you'd be happy with the sixers hiring a dude solely because he's smart, likable and been around pro basketball for a long time. i mean, there's not even a single other nugget of information to indicate what kind of GM he'd be.

all we do know, however, is that he was PLAYING BASKETBALL THIS SEASON.

meanwhile:

"While the rest of the world sort of dropped on Rondo, Ryan continued to evaluate him even higher," says Ainge. "Ryan was pushing very, very hard for Rajon. Ryan was very big in us having that strong of a desire for Rajon."

The Celtics used their lottery pick to acquire Sebastian Telfair, but as the draft continued to unfold, McDonough made a renewed pitch. The price was fairly steep to buy back into the first round and included cash, a future first-round pick and assuming Brian Grant’s contract.

"Ownership deserves a lot of credit for that," McDonough says. "Wyc and Steve said, ‘Alright you guys think he’s going to be that good,’ and it was unanimous that we did. We thought he could be a special player and luckily he was because we asked them to pay a lot of money to go get that pick."