If I remember correctly, the feeling was the Celtics were going to draft Freeman Williams out of Portland State who was the leading scorer in the country. Red pretty much shocked everyone by picking Bird, but it was a very shrewd move, albeit a risky one because Bird was considered a bit of an enigma and people weren't sure he'd even go pro.
The media being what it was back then, you had to be a college hoops junkie to have even heard of Bird, though he was on a Sports Illustrated cover earlier that year.
Red took advantage of a loophole that allowed teams to draft Juniors if, like Bird, they had been forced to sit out a year. In Bird's case because he transferred from Indiana. Within a year or two of that draft the NBA eliminated the loophole.
The NBA back then was the equivalent of the NHL today, but maybe slightly more popular. Their TV ratings were horrible and we were forced to listen to..Brent Musberger.