CHICAGO -- For the first time since having a meniscectomy on his right knee on Feb. 27, Derrick Rose participated in a full-contact five-on-five scrimmage during Tuesday's practice.

"He's just got to string some practices together," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Yesterday we established a baseline, and keep building from there. It's just steady progress. He's got to continue to build. He's got a long way to go, and we have to focus in on what our team needs to do, so that's first and foremost right now."

While Bulls players and coaches remain optimistic about Rose's progress, Thibodeau remains non-committal regarding a return date for his point guard.

"I don't want to jump ahead," Thibodeau said, when asked if he thought Rose may be able to play this week. "This is the second day of contact. Let him keep building and then when he's feeling good enough to be out there, then we'll go from there. So just go day by day and that's the way I really want him to approach it as well."

Bulls power forward Taj Gibson was pleased by what he saw from Rose during the scrimmage.

"I thought he looked good," Gibson said. "Real comfortable -- talking trash like he never left. But we had some fun. He looked great."

Gibson added with a smile that his scrimmage team beat Rose's team.

"He was more frustrated, down on himself at times," Gibson said. "Making a couple tough plays, a couple missed shots, but he was still in it. He looked great to me. Everybody is real excited to see him back. It's a good sign for our team."

Because they've been through this experience before with Rose, both players and coaches are thinking it won't take as long for him to find a rhythm with his teammates. Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in April 2012 and the medial meniscus in his right knee in November 2013.

"He's been through it so he understands what he has to do," Thibodeau said. "So this is not anything new. This is a third rehab for him. He's made it through two -- this one was minor in comparison to the other ones. So he's in a good place."

Gibson echoed those sentiments.

"We've been through this a lot of years so we're used to it," he said. "One thing about it, we're real encouraging. That's the best thing about [it], we've got a hard coach that really pushes us in practice. Every day in practice it's like a game atmosphere how hard we go. So having him out there, I don't think it will be any different. Guys have to adjust a little bit better, but I think it should be fine and he'll be fine."

Rose was not available to the media after practice, but spent some time riding a stationary bike instead. Thibodeau understands that it will take some time for Rose to get his wind back up after missing more than a month of game action.

"When you miss the amount of time that he's missed, the big thing is the conditioning and the timing," Thibodeau said. "And the way he can get that is being out there playing. He's done all the rehab work, all the strength work that he needs to do. He's got to continue to do it, obviously, but what he hasn't been able to do is play. And so being able to scrimmage now is key for him."