NEW ORLEANS – The Bulls just didn’t have rookie Derik Queen on their draft board; they had him in the building.
Before New Orleans traded up to grab the Maryland big man at No. 13 back in June, Queen visited the Bulls in Chicago and spent time with Billy Donovan. Not only did the coach meet with Queen but did his homework on him.
“He was one of the guys that the front office asked me to watch,” Donovan admitted on Monday. “I actually spent time with him on his visit (to Chicago). 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 at No. 12. Instead, they went with Noa Essengue. Easy to criticize now considering Queen was a starter for the Pelicans and was averaging 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assist per game while Essengue was just learning how to shave and getting most of his work in with the G League Windy City Bulls, but there were other factors involved, specifically the Sun-Times reporting before the draft that the Bulls were concerned with Queen’s ability to play their run-and-gun style of offense.
Donovan obviously wouldn’t admit to that, but the fact that Queen was assigned to the coach to do homework on 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 Kevin (Willard) about him,” Donovan said. “Kevin thought a really, really high-IQ, all those kinds of things. When the draft actually came, there’s things that happen in that moment, you got five minutes to make that pick. I think (the Bulls 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’s) not a fit. I think they felt like he was a very, very good player and if they didn’t feel that way I don’t think he would have come in and we would have spent time with him. I think they thought the way we were playing, Noa maybe from an upside standpoint, another athletic wing, a long defender, is maybe something we needed defensively.”
That looks like a bad assessment by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas right now, but the Bulls did enter the Pelicans game ranked second in the league in pace of play while Queen and New Orleans were ranked 22nd. Maybe that was a better landing spot for him, but it’s a tough look through the early part of the season.
Return to sender
Zach Collins, who is yet to play a regular-season game because of a left-hand injury, was scheduled to start ramping up activity with full-contact practices later this week. If all goes well, the Bulls have a series of home games in early December, and that’s when Donovan was hoping to have the back-up center available.
“That’s the hope, but he’s got to get back on the court this week and do some more contact,” Donovan added.
Bumps and bruises
Nikola Vucevic (knee soreness), Kevin Huerter (hip/illness), Isaac Okoro (back) and Dalen Terry (calf) were all out against the Pelicans, but none of the injuries were expected to be long term. Okoro and Terry did not make the trip.