Fred Hoiberg Defends Use Of Jimmy Butler, Says His Injured Knee Is Improving

(CBS) A day after acknowledging there was real concern as All-Star wing Jimmy Butler sat out with swelling in a left knee that's now cost him 13 games this season, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said Butler's status is improving and that there's no MRI planned at this time.

"Jimmy feels quite a bit better this morning," Hoiberg said Tuesday.

"The swelling has gone down, and he feels a lot better than he did last night."

The Bulls next play Thursday in the road against the Spurs, and Butler's status for that remains uncertain. He was scratched from the lineup a few hours before the start of Monday's win against the Bucks after developing left knee swelling throughout the day.

That absence came after Butler returned Saturday after missing the previous 11 games because of a left knee strain suffered on Feb. 5. Butler recorded 24 points and 11 rebounds while playing 34 minutes, including 21 in the first half in his first action in a month.

"He'd been going hard for two weeks," Hoiberg said of Butler leading up to his return. "We wanted to get him to a point where he was comfortable just going out there and just playing and not reacting.

"A lot of it was going to be based on how he felt. 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."

An examination by team doctors Monday night revealed no structural damage in Butler's left knee, Hoiberg previously said.

Additionally, Bulls rookie forward Bobby Portis is day-to-day, Hoiberg said, with an orbital contusion suffered Monday night that has his left eye swollen shut.