Feb. 09--Already without leading scorer Jimmy Butler, the Chicago Bulls were further hampered for their game against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night when Derrick Rose was sidelined with body soreness.
Rose participated in the morning shootaround and was expected to start but instead missed his seventh game of the season. Rose was in uniform and stretching in the the locker room before the game but when the lineups were announced, Kirk Hinrich was among the starting five.
When asked why he was sitting, Rose said, "just soreness all over. That's pretty much it."
Rose said it wasn't his surgically repaired knee, calling it "body soreness."
The veteran said he was doing a number of exercised to alleviate the soreness and plans on playing against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at the United Center.
"Recovery stuff: Foam rolling, stretching, NomaTech, Tiger Tail, doing all the recovery stuff so that my body's good," Rose said of his recovery process.
Meanwhile, Butler's return to the lineup following a left knee injury remains undetermined, but the guard is "feeling a lot better," according to coach Fred Hoiberg.
"Jimmy is receiving treatment back home," Hoiberg said following the Bulls' shootaround in Charlotte where they will face the Hornets on Monday night. "He feels better. We still don't have a timeframe on everything but the important thing is he's feeling a lot better than he was a couple of days ago. He still has a lot of soreness in there. I would doubt he would play Wednesday but then we'll kind of make a determination from there."
Butler suffered a strained knee during the second quarter of Friday night's game against the Nuggets in Denver. Hoiberg said he isn't sure why there isn't a more definitive timeframe for Butler's return.
"Good question," Hoiberg said. "It's what it is right now. It's an injury that a lot of it is based on how he recovers and the important thing is he's making progress. We'll continue to get him treatment and if he can continue to make progress a lot of this will be based on he feels."
When asked if the injury could be long term, Hoiberg responded, "We hope not, we hope not. He's still got a lot of stiffness in it. It was an injury that had a lot of pain associated with that. It's just about hopefully continuing to improve every day understanding that there's going to be a lot of soreness involved with this particular injury."
On whether surgery on Butler's knee had been ruled out, Hoiberg said, "as far as right now that's what we understand."
Also feeling better is Nikola Mirotic, who is recovering from both a Jan. 27 appendectomy and then follow-up surgery for a hematoma.
"As far as a timeline, again that's based on how he's feeling," Hoiberg said. "He's starting to eat again which is good. He still hasn't done much physical activity, it's going to be about getting him back in shape. Which when you're really on a liquid diet for five days, it's about building the strength back up. That's what it's going to be about for Niko and hopefully that will start soon."
