CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bulls are holding out hope that Derrick Rose can return to the floor at some point this season.
Rose, who tore the medial meniscus in his right knee for the second straight year, is scheduled to have surgery in the next day or two, according to sources.
The internal hope for his teammates is that Rose will be able to come back and try and help lead the Bulls to an NBA championship.
Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler said after Wednesday's 98-86 loss to the Charlotte Hornets that he spoke to Rose on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday morning and called Rose "high-spirited."
"I think we're all optimistic about it," Butler said, when asked about the possibility of Rose returning this year. "We want him back and I'm sure he's going to try and get back as soon as possible."
Bulls center Joakim Noah wasn't sure if Rose would be back this season, but he admitted being very upset when hearing about the news on Tuesday night.
"Just really sad," Noah said. "Angry, sad -- he doesn't deserve it. It's just really disappointing ... I feel bad for him, but I know he's a tough guy and he's going to bounce back."
Several players admitted that the Rose news took an emotional toll on the group.
"You could tell that emotionally it was tough for us tonight," veteran Pau Gasol said. "We tried to fight through it, we tried to give ourselves a chance, but it just wasn't perfect today."
Noah echoed those sentiments.
"Mentally, I think we're a little bit drained with everything that happened," he said. "But I just know that we're going to have to play a lot harder if we want to be successful."
Whether Rose returns this season or not, the bigger issue for this group all season is that they haven't been playing consistent defense. It's a fact that irritates Butler and some of his teammates.
"Defense is all effort anyway," Butler said after his team gave up 54 second half points."So it's if we want to play it or not, we really haven't been playing much defense all year. Just offense. And look where it got us."