'He gives us defense and shooting,': Darrell Arthur sticking in Nuggets' starting lineup

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DENVER – Prior to their Thursday night loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Nuggets made a change to their starting lineup for the first time in ten games. Darrell Arthur started at power forward, allowing Wilson Chandler to return to a sixth-man role.

“That is something that for the time being that we will probably look to do,” Michael Malone said of starting Arthur. “Darrell has been playing well when called upon. He gives us defense and he gives us shooting at the same time.”

The Spurs are arguably the worst matchup in the league for the Nuggets, so Thursday night might not be the best window into the potential effectiveness of the lineup change. Replacing Chandler with Arthur made no difference on either end of the floor against San Antonio but Malone is not planning on scrapping the new starting unit quite yet.

On paper, it seems that Arthur is the ideal starting power forward for the Nuggets. He’s known as an above-average defensive player who can defend on the perimeter and is one of Denver’s defensive leaders when on the floor. The 29-year-old is highly vocal and is arguably the Nuggets’ most versatile pick-and-roll defender. Arthur is also shooting a career-high 2.3 three-pointers per game and is making 51.4 percent of those attempts so far this season.

Starting Arthur also moves Chandler to a more comfortable sixth-man role, one he’s occupied for most of his tenure with the Nuggets.

“It also allows Wilson Chandler to come off the bench,” Malone said of the new lineup. “I think he is a little bit more comfortable coming off the bench.”

Over the past few games, Chandler has guarded LaMarcus Aldridge, Karl-Anthony Towns, and DeMarcus Cousins, and it has put a strain on Denver’s overall defensive scheme as well as Chandler himself.

“We have played against so many big frontlines lately,” Malone explained. “We were forced to come up with creative game plans to help Wilson guard some these bigger guys.”

Allowing Chandler to play without the pressure of covering the opposition’s best frontcourt player will hopefully lead Chandler to start scoring the way he was at the start the season when he was getting serious Sixth Man of the Year consideration.

Over the past 11 games, since Chandler became the starting power forward, he is scoring almost four points per game less and his three-point shooting has dropped from 35.8 percent to 29.1 percent, while also not rebounding as well as he had to start the year.

Hopefully using Chandler off the bench will get him back into a groove.

Footnotes

Kenneth Faried (low back pain) is questionable for Sunday’s matchup in Oklahoma City. He got through all of practice Friday.

Arthur (left knee soreness) is probable versus the Thunder.