NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The one reason to watch each and every team

Brooklyn Nets: Kyrie Irving’s redemption tour

Kyrie Irving will be the first to tell you he failed the Celtics as a leader, and he’s done as much already. He’s absolutely right, too; every account indicates he was at the forefront of Boston’s chemistry problems in the locker room, and his performance in the team’s embarrassing second-round playoff defeat — 20.4 points per game on .352/.227/.561 shooting splits — felt like the last nail in the coffin on his tenure in Beantown.

It quickly became apparent he wouldn’t be staying with the Celtics in free agency, going back on his word just a few months prior when he told the TD Garden crowd at a tip-off event that he was planning on re-signing. Now, with another change of scenery that he orchestrated himself, it’s time to prove he can be a conductor of more than just chaos.

There’s no question Kyrie Irving is a great basketball player. Even in a tumultuous season, the man still posted 23.8 points, a career-high 6.9 assists and a career-high 5.0 rebounds per game on a very efficient .487/.401/.873 shooting line. He’s still in his prime at age 27, and the Brooklyn Nets seems like the exact kind of hipster destination for a perpetual contrarian like Irving.

However, even as an upgrade on D’Angelo Russell, Kyrie has to prove that he can not only fit in with Kenny Atkinson’s system, but also that he won’t wreck this plucky team’s good vibes from last year. He has to lead a relatively young bunch, develop chemistry with his backcourt partner, Caris LeVert, and generally hold down the fort until a healthy Kevin Durant returns in 2020-21. This is a placeholder season before the Nets are true contenders, but it’s paramount that Kyrie redeems himself and shows Brooklyn’s trajectory is still upward with him in charge. Watching him try to do all of that will make this young, on-the-rise squad even more intriguing.