The Detroit Pistons play host to the Chicago Bulls at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday night.
The Chicago Bulls made plenty of noise in the offseason, so there is plenty of optimism after winning just 31 games last season. Lauri Markkanen, Thaddeus Young, Tomas Satoransky and Otto Porter Jr. were all traded away. DeMar DeRozan was the big acquisition for the Bulls as he inked a three-year deal, which gives the team a go-to scorer alongside Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine, but an underrated move for them was the addition of Lonzo Ball who could be set for a breakout season in this lineup.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons will be going through another development season after winning just 20 games in the regular season to end up with the first overall pick which they used to draft Cade Cunningham. Killian Hayes is another young player they will look to develop while Jerami Grant will likely be the leading scorer for the Pistons once again after he averaged 22.3 points per game last season. Cory Joseph should play plenty of minutes off the bench while Kelly Olynyk could easily work his way into the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
Looking at the betting trends, the Bulls are 7-2 ATS in their last nine games as a road favorite and 1-7 ATS in their last eight games playing on three or more days rest. The Pistons are 0-4 ATS in their last four home games and 0-5 ATS in their last five games as an underdog.
Head to head, the under is 4-0 in the last four meetings overall, the Bulls are 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings in Detroit and the Bulls are 7-0 ATS in the last seven meetings overall.
There is plenty of reason for optimism if you’re a Bulls fan as their roster looks so much better with Ball and DeRozan in the lineup. You can’t say the same thing about the Pistons who are clearly in rebuild mode after winning just 20 games last season. There will be plenty of eyes on the first overall pick in this one, but I really think the new-look Bulls are set for a breakout season, so I'm taking them to kick off their season with a comfortable win and cover on the road.