Not Like Releasing Him Solves Anything.

Via TrueHoop, a report from Boston Globe sportswriter Greg Lee says point guard Sebastian Telfair is all but out in Beantown.

"I wanted to let you know that we have removed Sebastian’s nameplate from his locker in Waltham. The facts and circumstances of his case have not been determined but he does not have a Celtics locker and we do not anticipate that he will," [team managing partner Wyc] Grousbeck wrote in the e-mail.

The case Grousbeck refers to is Telfair's recent gun-related arrest.

The Celtics' problems go deeper than Telfair, so this doesn't really mean jack. Until Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge are both gone, Boston will be dealing with basketball mediocrity. There's still a glut of young players that are basically 2's and 3's on that team, and that 3 ought to belong to Paul Pierce until he says he's had enough. Hope of landing the #1 pick in the lottery and being chummy with Kevin Durant's family isn't going to help incompetent management, and Ainge has joined Kevin McHale of the Wolves, the Sixers' Billy King, and the Knicks' Isiah Thomas in the high class of NBA Front Office Fuck-Ups.

Telfair will likely find a team with a system that fits him. The League has too many teams for him not to fall in somewhere, but it's interesting to watch someone who was such a lauded prospect in high school (enough to warrant an ESPN movie). The only problem with watching Telfair's career arc is almost reality-show like: you have to fight the impulses to want to see him fail; it's a natural response to early overexposure.

Danny Ainge: Certified Moron.

In the dubious competition of NBA's Stupidest Executive, Danny Ainge is up there, filling Boston fans with consternation over idiot trades (how's that dealing the draft rights to Brandon Roy in exchange for Sebastian Telfair looking now, especially since the Celtics passed on Randy Foye too?) and wasting the best years of Paul Pierce.

Now, his team's been slapped for 30 large for him being caught at the Big 12 championship talking with Texas stud Kevin Durant's family. What good does this do you, Danny? It's not like you're guaranteed the #1 spot in the draft if the Celtics continue to tank -- the draft only assures you the best chance at it, and as of late, that hasn't helped a lot of the worst teams from season to season (Celtics fans remember having the worst season and missing out on Tim Duncan.) Basically, he's trying to convince the mother of a one-and-done to get her son to leave college (most likely) so he can have half a shot at drafting him, and gets caught on national television (yes, the ESPN announcing team caught him).

Even Isiah Thomas wouldn't be caught pulling that crap.

the quiet bad-ass.

That's how I remember Celtics guard Dennis Johnson from a very young age, watching the rivalry games between them and my then beloved Showtime-era Lakers. He'd be the last player you looked at, when your dad was telling you about Bird, Parish, McHale, Walton, etc. But he was one of the guys who made that frontcourt possible and so vital and lethal, and the assessment in his obituary reflects that.

"He was one of the most underrated players in the history of the game, in my opinion, and one of the greatest Celtic acquisitions of all time," said former Boston teammate Danny Ainge, now the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations.

For being the linchpin on a great team I loved to hate with my friends when we were very young, I salute you, D.J.