Celtics GM Danny Ainge thought the Suns were going to hire Brad Stevens over the summer before he got the chance, writes the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett. “When Ryan McDonough went to Phoenix, you know, Ryan and I had talked a lot about how much we liked Brad Stevens,” said Ainge. “I thought Ryan was going to hire Brad to go coach the Suns, but he didn’t and he got a great coach in Jeff Hornacek.”
- The Celtics have “just valued Rajon Rondo” more than any other club over the last eight years, Ainge told reporters, including Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe (on Twitter). Of course, the C’s got a ton of calls on their star guard but wound up holding on to him through the deadline.
- Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter) wouldn’t be surprised to see the Knicks negotiate a buyout with seldom-used guard Beno Udrih in the coming days.
- The Knicks wound up standing pat at the deadline and Begley has the goods on what happened or, rather, what didn’t happen.