Celtics' Early Success Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Kyrie Irving's Toxic Attitude

It's still early in the NBA regular season, but the Boston Celtics are off to a hot start and are tied for the best record in the Eastern conference. This is a far cry from the Kyrie Irving-led Celtics of last year, to say the least.

Many rightly believed heading into the season that the current iteration of the Celts is not as talented on paper as they were a season ago. But their hot start has led to speculation that Irving was responsible for the team's inability to reach their full potential due to his reputation for keeping a less-than-positive attitude, a harmful intangible if there ever was one.

Boston retained a number of their players from last season's team, though the loss of Al Horford was fairly significant. The biggest change for the Celtics, however, came at the point guard position. And it may very well be a case of addition by subtraction.

You may consider Kemba Walker a downgrade in talent compared to Irving, but he has proven to be a much better fit for the C's to this point. The entire team seems to be playing better now that he is their floor general and leader on the court.

Irving's attitude was an issue during his time in Boston. He was constantly under fire for the way he handled himself on the court and in press conferences. His mental makeup was consistently questioned, and fans probably aren't surprised that the Nets are suddenly dealing with the same problem.

The Celtics aren't looking in the rearview. Their fresh start post-Kyrie is a welcome one, and that pretty much says it all about the All-Star guard's ability to keep his teams from reaching their full potential.