Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics Caused the NBA Lockout

As the NBA heads towards imminent doom without the acceptance of a new collective bargaining agreement, many fingers will be pointed as to why the season either never happened or was shortened.

Some people will blame the NBA players association. In the current CBA, the players were earning 57 percent of basketball related income, or BRI. Compared to other sports, basketball players make the second highest percentage of its league's income behind MLB players. To ask them to limit their share down to 51 percent, like the owners are currently proposing, seems acceptable to the average sports fan.

On the other side, the owners have foolishly spent money in terms of contracts. Mediocre guys are getting paid massive amounts of money. Rashard Lewis got a max deal from the Orlando Magic. Eddy Curry got paid by the New York Knicks. Carlos Boozer got shockingly overpaid last season. Add all of this to the fact that attendance is dropping around the NBA, and the owners have less revenue to spend. When the owners are spending what little revenue they have foolishly, it leads to what we have now.

Still, there has to be a reason that all of this is happening. If the NBA is "the most rapid growing sport in the world" like they claim to be, why are there half empty arenas across the league on a nightly basis? Why aren't people spending as much to see their favorite team?

The answer lies within the Boston Celtics.

Shortly before the 2007-08 season, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge needed to shake up his roster. On draft night, Ainge acquired Ray Allen from the Seattle Supersonics for Wally Sczerbiak, Delonte West and the fifth overall pick. The trade paired Allen with the Celtics current superstar Paul Pierce. Yet, Ainge wasn't done.

On July 31st of that year, Ainge traded for Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now the Celtics had three former All-Stars on their team. The team's fanbase was completely reenergized and thought they could make a run at the NBA championship. The following June, the Celtics achieved that goal. This was the birth of the "super team."

In order to be a "super team," they must have three former All-Stars on their roster that have been acquired by means other than the NBA draft. Typically, these players are paid ridiculous amounts of money and are paired up with multiple aging veterans who are signed at the league minimum salary.

After the Celtics won their championship, numerous NBA teams in big markets tried to employ the same strategy. The Miami Heat copied it by bringing in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to pair with Dwayne Wade. The New York Knicks are currently copying it after signing Amare Stoudamire and acquiring Carmelo Anthony. Even the Los Angeles Lakers will probably get into the act when Dwight Howard whines his way out of Orlando when he is scheduled to be a free agent in 2012. (Howard could choose not to exercise an early termination clause in his contract after next season, which would delay his free agency status till 2013.)

The advantages of the super team is that they garner interest for the league and make money. David Stern loves money, so he loves the idea of having five or six super teams scattered across the NBA.

However, the super team is doing nothing but killing the NBA.

Small-market teams can no longer compete if the talent goes to five or six teams via free agency. Because of this, attendance drops as fans realize that if they don't have one of these teams, their chances of actually winning are slim to none. Less attendance means less money. Less money means less BRI. Less BRI means lockout.

Although it's not going to happen in the current CBA, the only way for the NBA to repair itself is by preventing the super team from forming. A possibility would be a "franchise player" tag similar to the one used in the NFL. This would prevent teams from fearing their best player would leave via free agency,

A franchise tag would also eliminate small-market teams ditching their best talent. In the past year, two teams, the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz, have traded their best player in fear of being "LeBronned." Tagging these players would make sure they aren't going anywhere.

Another idea would be a hard salary cap. Not only would this prevent the super team from forming, but it would make owners and general managers be more selective when handing out max deals like they're candy.

All of this would add more interest in small-market cities, and increased attendance. The parity would also return in the NBA, making it a better product for the fans.

The NBA is slowly dying because of the super team. The only question is will David Stern realize it before it's too late?