Denver Nuggets final report card: Darrell Arthur

Over the next few weeks, the BSN Nuggets staff will review the Nuggets season, player-by-player. We’ll look at their performance from 2015-16 and forecast what type of impact they’ll make next season.

Reflecting on 2015-16

Draymond Green’s rise over the past two years combined with the pace and space era which we find ourselves in for the foreseeable future, has every general manager scouring the league for the latest and greatest playmaking four.

Green kickstarted the movement, but versatile bigs who can stretch you to three and defend multiple positions like Paul Millsap, Marvin Williams, and Marcus Morris have emerged as invaluable matchup nightmares that give opponents fits.

The Nuggets obviously don’t have a guy like Green who can force the opposition out of their comfort zone and make them actually bench one of the best power forward’s in the league, few do. But in Darrell Arthur they have someone who can seamlessly switch onto perimeter players, stretch the floor at a 38.5 percent clip from three and can act like the super glue that holds their defensive back line together, and for those reasons, his value shouldn’t be understated.

Arthur, like many versatile four men, doesn’t have the counting stats that jump off the page, which is fine. He averaged 7.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and just under one steal and block in nearly 22 minutes per game this season.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll see the 38.5 percent shooting from 3-point range and the five points better per 100 possessions the Nuggets were on defense with Arthur on the floor. That’s with Arthur usually playing alongside a bench unit which was Denver’s Achilles heel for much of the season.

Arthur also finished the season with a healthy RPM just outside the top 100 and was clearly the frontcourt pawn which coach Michael Malone trusted most down the stretch in games. It’s odd that Arthur could only average 22 minutes per game this season, considering the 7.2 minutes he averaged in fourth quarters alone was the most of any Nuggets four or five man.

When Arthur did play upwards of 28 minutes, the Nuggets were a .500 team.

One of Denver’s most efficient lineups last season featured Arthur alongside Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Danilo Gallinari and Nikola Jokic. That lineup with Arthur and the starters accumulated a 113.3 OffRtg, 99.2 DefRtg and a 14.2 NetRtg in 93 minutes on the floor together. Arthur playing alongside the starting unit is something I’d hope to see more of next season.

Final report card grade: A-

Looking ahead to 2016-17

Arthur has a $2.9 million player option for next season that he must decide on by June 22, and if he declines it, which he probably will, Denver should do what they can to lock the seven-year vet to a three-year deal.

Arthur is one of many current Nuggets who have stated the admiration they have for the organization, and that trust combined with his fondness of Malone, will most likely keep him in Denver for the interim.

“I definitely want to be here, especially if they extend me three or four years,” Arthur told The Denver Post shortly after the season ended. “That would be great. Because I love the city, I love the team, I love the direction the coach is going in and the organization. So, I want to be here.”

The Nuggets have money to spend and could put a priority on re-signing their own free agents including Arthur, D.J. Augustin and Mike Miller before looking to the open market.

Arthur nearly signed with the Los Angeles Clippers last summer before opting to return to Denver and made his desires to stay in Denver known to Nuggets brass at the trade deadline last season.

The Nuggets should look to add a stretch four this offseason who can defend, has more length than Arthur and can protect the rim, but the difficult part is that combination is one of the rarest ones in the league today. The Serge Ibaka’s of the world don’t grow on trees and this year’s free agent class is weak, so general manager Tim Connelly might look to the draft to fill that position of need.

It will be exciting to watch Arthur next season, hopefully in Denver where his shooting, defense, and versatility fits perfectly alongside both Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic.