In a surprise move prior to the Celtics' fifth preseason game -- and first at TD Garden -- against the Nets, the C's waived guards Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith, trimming the roster to 16 with four games to play before the regular season.
Both players participated in all four preseason games for the C's, although neither made much of an impact in limited minutes. Still, Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has expressed concern at the lack of depth behind point guard Rajon Rondo, hinted over the weekend that the team would wait to make any roster moves until later this week.
So, the cuts of Christmas -- whose summer league success and early call off the bench in Monday night's loss to his hometown 76ers seemed to give him a leg up on his competition -- and Smith -- whose ballhandling ability also appeared to give him an inside edge -- come as a surprise. While the C's still could be looking to add veteran point guard depth behind Rondo and Jason Terry, don't get your hopes up for an imminent return of Keyon Dooling, whose agent confirmed he's had no discussions with the Celtics about coming out of retirement.
As a result, as currently constituted, Kris Joseph, Robert Kurz and Micah Downs are competing for the final two spots on the 15-man roster.
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