Bulls lottery odds and Pelicans pick placement at stake tonight

Chicago Bulls (27-54) vs. Detroit Pistons (38-43)

7 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

Injury Report:

Antonio Blakeney, Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Paul Zipser, and Denzel Valentine are all out for the season. But you all already knew that, so I just wasted 10 seconds of my life typing that out again.

The Pistons are resting their guys too, locked into their own lottery position (their pick going to the Clippers if they don’t get top-3). Andre Drummond is out for tonight with an Achilles injury while their other star Blake Griffin won’t play because of an ankle injury. Reggie Bullock and Dwight Buycks are also out.

Preview:

Does a battle between two mathematically eliminated teams on the last night of the NBA regular season get your competitive juices pumping?

If so, the Detroit Pistons versus Chicago Bulls game tonight is the game for you!

If you are like a lot of other fans and just want the season to end already, that’s another reason to celebrate tonight. No longer will that small voice in the back of your head guilt trip you into watching the Bulls play for the sake of proving your loyalty. You can switch your brain from player development to season evaluation mode now.

However, determining the effectiveness of this season is difficult so that may hurt your brain even more than watching the Bulls play basketball games. Were the strides that some of the young players made an indicator of a successful season? Or is the fact that the Bulls will likely not secure a top three pick barring insane lottery luck make this season a failure during a year when the Bulls were all in on the tank?

BaB and other sites around the web will have content coming up to answer those questions. But with the last game of the season still to play, let’s review the seeding implications associated with tonight because that’s likely the only outcome of the game that matters to anyone at this point.

The Bulls can finish no worse than a tie for seventh at this point in the final standings. If the Sacramento Kings beat the Houston Rockets tonight and the Bulls lose to Detroit then Chicago can finish in a tie for sixth place. However, depending on if the Bulls do end up in a three way tie for seventh, losing coin flips could ultimately force them to pick in the ninth spot. Either way, it’s a disappointing outcome.

The fate of that New Orleans Pelicans first-round pick is innumerably more interesting and complicated so let’s leave it to somebody smarter than I am to explain it all.

Depending on what happens tonight, the Pelicans could finish anywhere from No. 5 to No. 8 in the Western Conference.

It’s been a pleasure serving you this season. Thanks for reading!