LaVine 'excited' for the future after Bulls beat Pistons

Zach LaVine is "excited" and brimming with confidence for the NBA season ahead following the Chicago Bulls' 94-88 win over the Detroit Pistons in their opening game.

The All-Star guard dragged his team to victory with a superb individual performance, with 34 points, seven rebounds and four assists - his best tally in a season-opener.

LaVine and Bulls looking forward

LaVine feels a new-look Bulls side can look ahead with plenty of optimism.

"This ain't last year. We're looking forward now," LaVine said. "It's a whole new team. A whole new mindset. So, I'm excited that we ground that one out. A win's a win.

"I'm always confident. I put the work in but having this dude [DeMar DeRozan] next to me, having Vooch [Nikola Vucevic] next to me, that just makes me more confident and more ready to play.

"We have a bunch of dogs on the team now and guys that will step up for each other so I'm really excited, but a win's a win and we're going to go forward from here."

First opening day win for Bulls in five years

The Bulls' victory was their first on an opening day since 2016 and head coach Billy Donovan had plenty of praise for LaVine's talent as he hopes to lead the team to the playoffs after a four-year absence.

"The shots that he made and things that he does with athletically and talent-wise, I think people have seen that for years," Donovan said. "He's always kind of had that.

"I think he's looking at things through a different lens. His voice is there. There's a different message coming from him in a really, really different way. He sees things in a different way now, based off his experiences."