NEW ORLEANS — The Bulls didn’t just have center Derik Queen on their draft board earlier this year. They had him in the building.

Before the Pelicans traded up to grab Queen with the No. 13 overall pick in June, Queen visited the Bulls in Chicago and spent time with coach Billy Donovan, who had done his homework.

“He was one of the guys that the front office asked me to watch,” Donovan said Monday. “His head coach at Maryland, Kevin Willard, and I are very close. Kevin worked for [Rick] Pitino, too, and I worked with Kevin’s father at Kentucky. Certainly, [Queen] was on the board there.”

He just wasn’t the pick for the Bulls, who instead went with French forward Noa Essengue at No. 12. That decision is easy to criticize now, considering Queen is starting for the Pelicans — averaging 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists entering Monday — while Essengue is getting most of his work with the G League’s Windy City Bulls. The Bulls, however, were said to have concerns about Queen’s ability to play their run-and-gun style of offense, as the Sun-Times reported at the time.

Still, the fact that Donovan was tasked with looking into Queen’s potential shows how serious the Bulls were about him.

“For me, in that draft, there were probably five guys they wanted me to watch film on, and I had talked to [Willard] about him,” Donovan said. “Kevin thought [he had] a really, really high-IQ, all those kinds of things.

“When the draft actually came, there’s things that happen in that moment. You’ve got five minutes to make that pick. I think [the front office] was looking at Noa as an opportunity long-term — ‘This guy fits the way we would like to play.’ I did not get from the front office or even the scouts that [Queen wasn’t] a fit. [But] I think they thought the way we were playing, Noa, maybe from an upside standpoint, another athletic wing, a long defender, [was] maybe something we needed defensively.”

The Bulls (9-8) entered Monday ranked second in the NBA in pace of play; the Pelicans (3-15) were 22nd. Maybe New Orleans was a better landing spot for Queen, but it’s a tough look through the early part of the season.

Collins’ time is coming

Bulls backup center Zach Collins, who has yet to play a regular-season game because of an injured left hand, was scheduled to start ramping up activity with full-contact practices later this week. If all goes well, Donovan hopes to have him available in time for a series of home games in early December.

“That’s the hope, but he’s got to get back on the court this week and do some more contact,” Donovan said.

Bumps and bruises

Center Nikola Vucevic (sore knee), guard/forwards Kevin Huerter (hip/illness) and Dalen Terry (calf) and guard Isaac Okoro (back) were all out Monday, but none of their injuries was thought to be long-term. Okoro and Terry didn’t make the trip to New Orleans.