The Chicago Bulls need Jimmy Butler, and they need him healthy. As the team sits on the line of making the playoffs this season, the play of Butler will go a long way in dictating the outcome of the year. Butler has been dominating the league when on the court, but a knee injury has kept him off throughout the last month. After returning to the lineup and then suffering a setback, Butler made it clear that he is not rushing his return this time around.
Butler was out for a month with a strained knee suffered on Feb. 5 against the Denver Nuggets. Butler managed to return to the court last weekend, but then suffered a setback with swelling on Sunday. He sat out Monday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks and while he is getting better, Butler is not looking to rush things this time around. Head coach Fred Hoiberg told the media that he is feeling better as no MRI is expected to be scheduled following the setback.
"Jimmy feels quite a bit better this morning," Hoiberg said. "We didn't do much at practice, we had a film session and then we walked through some different situations, but he's feeling a lot better this morning."
Hoiberg has faced criticism putting Butler back into the lineup on Saturday against the Houston Rockets. Considering he did suffer a setback, many wonder if the Bulls rushed his return back to the court. The Bulls are very aware that their season rests on the play of Butler along with Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol. Hoiberg and the team doctors cannot afford to get this decision wrong. The Bulls are set to play the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and there is no guarantee Butler comes back for it.
"A lot of it was going to be based on how he felt," Hoiberg said. "We checked on Jimmy at every timeout. We got him out of there with about four minutes left in the first quarter. We held him out until the second. He felt great, went back in there and responded all game long. Next day, he came in here, worked out, felt really good after that game. In talking to the doctors and the trainers, it's not too unexpected to have a little bit of soreness after that. We didn't just throw him out there and say, 'OK, let's see how you do.' We put a lot of time and effort into seeing how he'd feel."
Injuries have hit the Bulls hard this season. Rose and Gasol are healthy while Taj Gibson has returned from a hamstring issue. However, now Bobby Portis is listed as day-to-day with an orbital contusion in his left eye. Hoiberg told the media that Butler's eye is swollen shut which could leave him out of Thursday's game as well. Mike Dunleavy is simply laughing at this point.
"I mean at this point it's borderline comical," Dunleavy said. "We just can't stay healthy for whatever reason."
