He recruited the players who took Butler to the National Championship Game. I mean, that’s a pretty huge feather in ones cap as far as talent evaluation.
If that's the only bar that needs to be cleared for someone to become the head of basketball ops for a marquee professional franchise the world is upside down. This is an entirely new job with a different set of skills from coaching and there is nothing in his resume that indicates he is prepared for it, including recruiting teenagers to Indianapolis. He's smart and a great x's-and-o's guy and likely would be a plus to the draft? I would agree. Does that mean he is ready to evaluate trades. negotiate contracts and understand cap implications inherent in this work and also the other business-side parts of the job? I'm not sure about that at all.He found Gordon Hayward when he was 6’4”
If he doesn't have the right support structure, this will not be good and an exodus in the front office would be a rather large set back for the organization. I look forward to hearing all the scuttlebutt from Woj and Shams on if this was a fear-based move by Wyc to ensure he didn't lose both Ainge and Stevens or if this had been in the works for a rather long time. I think a lot of my final feelings will come down to understanding if this were a power struggle and if Mike Z and crew are retained. Can't imagine Austin Ainge sticks around.