Mike Zarren speaking on "Analytic Approaches to Basketball"

The Sixers are making moves. They traded long time face of the franchise Andre Iguodala for Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson. Now, Sixers GM Rod Thorn is expected to move upstairs to a consultant's position and the team is looking for a new GM. One of the 3 leading candidates for the position is Celtics Assistant GM Mike Zarren. According to Sam Amick on SI.com

Zarren is an intriguing addition to the field of prospects; a widely-respected purveyor of advanced player statistics in the NBA who is one of the least-known yet most-influential members of the Celtics' front office group. A lifelong Celtics fan and season-ticket holder who began as an unpaid intern in 2003, Zarren -- a Harvard Law graduate who has also served as Celtics' team counsel -- has become known as the right-hand man of general manager Danny Ainge. He is a regular speaker at the annual MIT Sloan Conference where so many NBA executives explore new ways to analyze players and teams in a more accurate, efficient and in-depth manner.

Just as the Celtics assistant coaches have been picked off by other teams for their head coaching positions (Tom Thibodeau and Lawrence Frank), it appears that the Celtics stat guys are in demand by other teams to fill their GM slots. The Celtics previous stats analyst and Senior Vice President of Operations and Information, Daryl Morey, was hired by Houston to be their GM in 2007.

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