Joakim Noah will be in Chicago's starting lineup against Toronto on Wednesday night.

He has missed more than two months with a thumb injury.

"It's just been a tough time. I had to be very patient," Noah said. "Thirty games is a long time. But like I said, I'm very excited to be a part of it because our ballclub is very competitive, and we feel like when we're playing at our best, we can compete against anybody.

"But we obviously have a lot of work to do, and I know I have a lot of work to do. I haven't played a game in a long time, so ... "

The center missed 30 games with the injury and coach Tom Thibodeau says he'll play Noah in six to eight-minute intervals.

"It could be hard, because Jo missed 30 games or something like that," Derrick Rose said. "Just getting back to playing with him, it could take a little [bit]. [Wednesday night], we're going to see how it's going to go. He's a guy that's definitely going to help us, though, with a lot of energy. Rebound, tipping the ball, doing extra stuff on the court is going to help us. But we'll have to see how it goes [Wednesday night]."