Suns name McDonough GM

Ryan McDonough will be the general manager of the Phoenix Suns, who chose the 33-year-old Boston Celtics assistant general manager from a pool of three finalists.

"Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position," said Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby in a release Tuesday. "His natural leadership and communication skills will serve the Suns well. And, his prodigious work ethic and ability to identify talent will enable us to take full advantage of the 10 draft choices, including six in the first round, that we have over the next three years. We welcome his championship pedigree to our organization."

McDonough will become the fifth general manager for the Suns since 2006 and will be formally introduced Thursday. He is the son of late Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough and his brother Sean is a well-known broadcaster for ESPN.

Milwaukee Bucks assistant general manager Jeff Weltman and San Antonio Spurs assistant general manager Scott Layden were also finalists in Phoenix.

McDonough was hired by the Celtics as a special assistant to the video coordinator in 2003, one year after his graduation from North Carolina. He also served as director of international scouting. For the past three seasons, he served as Danny Ainge's right-hand man as assistant general manager and is versed in analytics and talent evaluation.