@Ty-Fife
There's a few names that I think we'll wind up linked to for sure. Masai Ujiri is the no brainer but unlikely to happen. I can't see Toronto letting him walk without us compensating them like we're trading for a quality player and even that's a long shot to me. The rumor mill is gonna make this path sound a lot more likely than it is imo.
IF we're continuing the rebuild direction which all sources are starting to point to but we'll know after Thursday for sure...I'd combine our rebuilding position with Dolan's need for big splashy names and think Sam Hinkie's name will pop up at some point if we don't hire quickly. He's the architect of The Process and got Philly fans to be patient longer than anyone expected, then got pushed out right at the next step stage. I'm not his biggest fan, but he's competent and patient almost to a fault. My love for youth and development team building would work with him.
My sleeper choice though would be to try and poach RC Buford from San Antonio. Buford has been with Pop forever basically, won all the chips with him as either Director of Scouting or GM. Those two titles feed into why I love him as a choice too, he's been the scout and been the GM, he knows every level of the game from experience. For the most part, word has been that he's just gotta wait for Pop to retire and the Spurs are his but the man's been in the shadow of Pop his whole career...NYC would be a huge chance for him and he has the acumen. I think poaching Buford would be less costly and is more realistic (especially if the Spurs miss the post season).
I'll have to poke around but the other trees I'd look at trying to shake something loose would be guys who worked under Ainge and Riley. Those are executives who have proven consistently to run a good show and their students ought to bring in the acumen I'd like to see. I'm thinking my boy Vivek from the Knicks Film School crew might be a good person to tap and ask about this stuff. Dude has a crazy good grasp of NBA history and what's gone on in the backgrounds, so he may have some names and ideas that are good. He does the "on this day" articles for KFS, is pretty active on twitter (and realgm) and knows his stuff.
Edit: Found my target from the Ainge tree - Mike Zarren but like Buford and Ujiri, he'd be tough to pry away as a lifelong C's guy
Michael Zarren - Assistant GM and Team Counsel
Zarren is widely recognized as one of the leaders in the field of advanced statistical analysis of basketball players and teams and is an important part of the team’s strategic planning and player personnel evaluation processes. Zarren is also the team’s salary cap expert and lead in-house counsel (for both basketball and business-side issues), and is responsible for the development of new technologies for team use, including the team’s best-in-class statistical database and video archive/delivery system.
I hate when nikkas make sense and it's counter to what I want.
I actually liked Trier, still think he can be a great sixth man 
