Oct 20, 2012; Albany, NY, USA; Boston Celtics center Fab Melo (13) dunks against the New York Knicks during the first half at Times Union Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Petraglia of WEEI is reporting that the Boston Celtics have sent center, Fab Melo back to the D-League.

Celtics announced Friday that they have assigned center Fab Melo to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws.

Since returning from his last assignment to the Claws, Melo, a 7-foot center, appeared in two games with the Celtics. Melo played three minutes against the Magic before playing the final five minutes Thursday night against the Lakers.

Melo recorded his first two career points in the blowout win, to go along with a steal and a block.

In 19 games (17 starts) for the Red Claws, Melo is averaging 11.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks a game while averaging 27.7 minutes.

This is raising some suspicion that a move could be made. The Celtics are thin on the front line with Jared Sullinger done for the season after having back surgery. Earlier today, Ric Bucher of ESPN reported that Boston was interested in adding another big man, and that the Memphis Grizzlies could be a possible trade partner. According to sources, Courtney Lee is drawing interest and the Grizzlies would like to add him to their backcourt.

Seeing that Boston desperately needs a big man, it’s odd that they would send him back to Maine. If a move, whether via free agency or trade, was made sometime tonight or tomorrow, it would be unlikely that the player Boston acquires could play Sunday against the Nuggets with the blizzard that is currently shutting down the state.

Of course this is all hypothetical, but obviously something is up. While Fab Melo didn’t play many minutes in his two games, having him on the bench, ready to play if someone got injured was somewhat reassuring, no matter how inexperienced he may be. The trade rumors are picking up. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett might not be going anywhere, but it seems like Danny Ainge has got something up his sleeve.

December 29, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Boston Celtics small forward Kris Joseph (43) looks on during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena. The Warriors defeated the Celtics 101-83. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Players waived today: K. Joseph & J. Varnado (BOS), S. Samuels (CLE), C. Douglas-Roberts (DAL), S. Young (IND), L. Hayward (MIN) and …

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 6, 2013

The C’s have made some news lately, most notably the possible acquisition of DeMarcus Cousins, but in lesser news they have waived Jarvis Varnado and Kris Joseph in a move to avoid the league’s luxury tax.

It’s somewhat depressing that the C’s are already giving up on Kris Joseph.  Joseph has oscillated between the NBA roster and the D-League’s Maine Red Claws, but the second round pick from Syracuse was thought to have a lot of potential heading into this season.

Joseph may have fallen to the 51st overall selection in the 2012 NBA Draft, but as I wrote following draft night, his potential seemed to indicate he could prove to be a valuable wingman off the bench.  Joseph’s scoring potential was maybe average at best, but he was thought to be a good defender, and he also felt he was capable of scoring big at an NBA level if the situation called for it.

The obvious implication from the likely waiving of Joseph is that he hasn’t lived up to these expectations, in either the pros or in the D-League, despite the fact he scored 28 points in the Maine Red Claws’ opener (highlights below).

But I don’t think this is the last the NBA will hear of Joseph.  The C’s just don’t want to enter the luxury tax, and cutting ties with the 6’7″ swingman is the only way they can avoid doing so.  The luxury tax is a dollar-per-dollar tax assessed to teams over the cap which ends up hurting owner’s pocket books big time, and clearly the C’s don’t think the value that Joseph offers is worth paying that penalty.

As to whether or not they’ll regret cutting ties with him, we may not know that for many years, as he has yet to establish himself at the pro level.

As for Varnado, he’s played 18 minutes all season and while some were high on his NBA potential, it doesn’t seem too likely that he ends up being much more than a career D-leaguer.

He displayed great potential at the D-League level, but the chasm that bridges the Developmental League from the pros is quite substantial, and his dominance among the guys in the D-League doesn’t really speak much of his potential among the best players in the world. Varnado averaged 14 points per game and eight rebounds per night in the D-League, but couldn’t get any burn for the C’s.

The move also gives Danny Ainge a little bit of flexibility financially entering the weeks up to the trade deadline, and even if the DeMarcus Cousins deal isn’t consummated tonight, he still could find himself making a move or two in attempt to right the ship, as the C’s have a lot of ground to make up if they want to solidify a place in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

As of the time of issue, the C’s sit just two games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Presumably, they will want to move up in the standings to avoid a potential first round matchup with the Miami Heat.

Oct 20, 2012; Albany, NY, USA; Boston Celtics center Fab Melo (13) dunks against the New York Knicks during the first half at Times Union Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

But Melo finally started to get it.  And get it, he did.

Melo posted a triple-double on December 22nd, scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds…and get this:  swatting 14 shots!  He followed that up with a 32 point, nine rebound, and nine block performance on December 26th.

The Boston Celtics recalled him.

But don’t get the impression that they did so to play him minutes at the NBA level.  Melo is day-to-day with a concussion, and Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston claimed via Twitter that the recall was done mostly so that Melo could receive adequate treatment for the concussion—rather than so that Melo could help fill the void in the paint that the Celtics have suffered from with their dearth of big men.

Celtics recall Fab Melo. Guess here is it’s procedural in order to be treated by training staff for concussion he sustained.

— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) January 2, 2013

Nevertheless, Melo showed some of the dominance that Rivers said he would.  And that’s a good sign.  There’s also the possibility that Forsberg was wrong, and that the Celtics could be priming Melo for something bigger.

After all, how many guys swat 14 shots in a game—at any level?

Coming into the NBA, that was Melo’s greatest strength:  an ability to be a game changer on the defensive end.  Syracuse faltered in the NCAA tournament because they missed Melo’s shot blocking, as he was ruled ineligible for March Madness (for circumstances that never became completely clear).

Now, after healing from the concussion, could Melo start swatting away the shots of players in the world’s best league?

We’re not ruling that possibility out.