By Randy Hill | Fox Sports
Much like the NBA prospects he’s been evaluating, Ryan McDonough will be making his own transition to the next level.
In this case, that transition is from assistant general manager to general manager.
Named Tuesday as the new talent judge for the Phoenix Suns, the 33-year-old McDonough will arrive with considerable fanfare among hardcore fans. Publicly praised by his last boss — Celtics GM (and former Suns coach) Danny Ainge — the son of Boston sports writing legend Will McDonough has been credited with considerable personnel-related input related to the Celtics’ on-court success.
“First and foremost, he comes from a winning and championship environment,” Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby said of the Suns’ new general manager during a Tuesday morning interview on KTAR 620.
As a strong voice in what is (relative to other teams) a player-evaluation staff of modest size, McDonough has been part of a Celtics organization that has reached two NBA Finals during his 10 seasons in Boston.