My guess is this was done to give them a shot to latch on with another team. I think Christmas very well might. It was a numbers crunch on the Celtics for Christmas. If he was a point guard I think he would have stuck. If the Celtics cut Kurz and Downs, as expected that will bring their roster down to 14. That would then allow them a free roster spot to add another waived/bought out player at a later time. It's also possible that they could keep Downs, but right now that's unlikely. Celtics are very close to the luxury tax wall and every contract they give out will effect that. part of the agreement in signing Jason Terry with the MLE was that the Celtics must stay under a certain financial threshold. This is a new rule in the new CBA. To use the full MLE on a player (as the C's did on Terry) then prohibits you from spending over the ceiling.
Thanks Word from the Shout Box for the heads-up.
