"I'm at the point now where I can start shooting," he added. "It's just a matter of knowing that if I were to go back out there the chance of re-aggravating it are pretty high. My strength isn't anywhere near where I need it to be."

Collins has bursitis in the bruised elbow and related triceps tendinitis.

He was hurt in an offseason golf cart-driving mishap in which his twin brother, Jason Collins of the Minnesota Timberwolves, sustained an elbow injury so serious he was cut to the bone and had to undergo surgery.

The two, with Jarron driving, were leaving an elevated tee box and headed toward the fairway when the cart tipped.

"It was early in the morning. It was wet out, and there was a lot of sod on the cart path," he said. "Coming around the corner, when I pressed the brake ... the cart couldn't get any traction.

"It just started skidding down the hill and ... it started to gently turn to its left. Then everything happened so fast. And I'm like, 'OK, the cart's sliding.' Then I'm like, 'What do I do? Do I turn into it?' ... So I basically lost control of the cart, and we hit the first speed bump in the cart path

"The cart flipped to the right. ... My brother hit his elbow directly onto the cart path, and I came down crashing on top of him."

HARPRING UPDATE: Veteran forward Matt Harpring dressed Wednesday after missing one game due to back spasms.

"A lot better than the other day," said Harpring, who "tweaked" the back during pregame warmups before last Monday's loss to Chicago.

"At least I can touch my toes and stuff like that. That's a big thing," he added. "I couldn't tie my shoes (Tuesday)."

Meanwhile, reserve point guard Brevin Knight did not play because of a sprained left index finger sustained in Monday's game.

---

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com