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Edgar Chaput
Toronto Raptors vs Chicago Bulls NBA Summer League Prediction, Odds
Both the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls begin working on the future when NBA summer league action kicks off on Friday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Most summer league games are tough to predict given the sort of lineups contending, but the NBA odds have the Raptors as -1.5 favourites.
Raptors vs Bulls Betting Analysis
Anybody who says or writes “Raptors vs Bulls” probably thinks back to the play-in game from three months ago. With Toronto up big at home in the second half, the Bulls chipped away as the third quarter shifted to the fourth. Chicago eventually blew the doors off Toronto in the final period 37-24, winning the game 109-105, which ended the Raptors’ season earlier than they’d have liked.
Thus began the offseason of great change in Toronto and here we are in July looking at what they and the Bulls organization have in their stable of young bucks and developmental talent. These rosters are mostly unknown to fans, save perhaps the die hards.
Both franchises experienced successful 2022 summer leagues. Each went 4-1, with Toronto’s defeat coming against Chicago, incidentally. Chicago’s came against the New York Knicks. Winning isn’t as essential as is developing the skill sets necessary and translating them to regular NBA action.
Toronto Raptors
Gradey Dick looked mighty fine a few weeks ago on draft night, sporting a shiny red suit and cool shades. Now he gets to demonstrate if he looks good on the basketball court wearing a real Raptors red jersey.
Dick comes to Toronto has a scorer. The Raptors struggled a lot on offence last season, and looked to the former Kansas guard for some attacking moxie. Some hoopla also surrounds Markquis Nowell. Only five feet eight inches tall, there is talk about his shooting ability too. As one of the team’s players on a two-way contract, he’s also on the Raptors 905 of the G League. Toronto is also looking to see who will support Jakob Poeltl at the five spot. To that effect, word is that Moses Brown, David McCormack, and Moses Wright will get some play time to decide who could show up regular season action.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago once again goes through an offseason hoping that something will come out of the summer to make them a force again in the NBA. Two names keep coming up when Bulls summer basketball is discussed.
The first is second round pick Julian Phillips. For the blink of an eye, he was a Boston Celtic until they traded the pick to Chicago. A Texas native, he played for the University of Tennessee last season, averaging 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds. The other is Mali-born Adama Sanogo. Undrafted, he spent 2022-2023 with UConn, becoming the first ever African-born player to earn Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four since Hakeem Olajuwon. Not bad company at all.
