Candace Buckner

candace.buckner@indystar.com

The Indiana Pacers will not be at full strength at the center position when the team begins training camp next week

Backup Ian Mahinmi (left shoulder) said Thursday that he expects to miss the start of the camp, that begins next Tuesday, and placed his return timetable at "two weeks, maybe more."

"We've been increasing the basketball stuff lately and the shoulder's been responding really good, really well to it," said Mahinmi, who has not needed surgery for his oft-injured shoulder. "So it's looking good, it's going towards the right direction."

Pacers coach Frank Vogel echoed Mahinmi's forecast. Although Mahinmi has been back in Indianapolis undergoing treatment and even lifting weights - light work for the upper body - he will not be on the court for practice next Tuesday and beyond

"He's not going to be ready to be a part of the initial training camp but shortly thereafter," Vogel said. "Maybe the first week or so, he probably won't be practicing."

Two days before he was set to play for Team France in the FIBA World Cup, Mahinmi aggravated the injury that has lingered since the end of the Pacers' season. Mahinmi said he initially hurt his shoulder a week before the postseason; he wore a black sleeve over the tender area throughout Indiana's run to the Eastern Conference Finals. But while in Spain for the last preparations of the FIBA World Cup, he felt the shoulder "pop in and out."

"It was very scary to me. I didn't really know if it was bad or not, so it happened once and I kept on practicing... it felt good, no problem," Mahinmi recalled. "And then the second time the very next day it happened again. So I went to the emergency room and took a few pictures of it and this is when we saw that it was a little bit worst than we thought. We had to call (Pacers head trainer) Josh (Corbeil) and obviously Larry and (general manager) Kevin Pritchard that I had injured my shoulder a little bit. Next thing you know, I had to come back here."

Mahinmi appeared in good spirits while making an appearance at the team's golf outing on Thursday, and he did not wear any kind of protective sleeve while working on his putting game. Mahinmi believes a bit more rest this time could eliminate the injury.

"I guess it wasn't completely healed after the season, which is part of the reason why it happened to me again on the same shoulder," Mahinmi said. "Now we're treating and hopefully it'll be good and it will be good forever.