Nuggets' Darrell Arthur still recovering from knee surgery, status for regular season opener in jeopardy

DENVER, Colo. — At Denver Nuggets media day, Darrell Arthur had said that he had his knee scope procedure on his right knee and was rehabbing from the surgery. Arthur’s goal was to be back by the middle of the preseason to begin acclimating himself with the team.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone shed some light on how Arthur’s progressing since his surgery:

“Very limited. His knee is improving. Obviously, he is spending a lot of time, daily, working on his rehab and strengthening that knee to get him back,” Malone said at practice Tuesday. “He has not been able to do much contact. A lot more of the non-contact stuff that he has been going through so he is still a ways away. Obviously, we will support him and bring him back when he feels healthy enough and he gets the ok from out medical staff to do so. We want him back but don’t want to rush him.”

Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post added that Arthur will still be out for 10-14 days putting his status for his return this preseason and game one in question.

#Nuggets F Darrell Arthur (knee) estimates he'll be ready for a return in 10-14 days. He'd like to get some practice in b4 the season starts

— Chris Dempsey (@chrisadempsey) October 11, 2016

10-14 days puts Arthur’s return between the 22nd and 25th of October, days before the Nuggets first game of the season in New Orleans against the Pelicans on the 29th. Being that he wants to get some practice time in before returning to the rotation then the goal should be for him to return for the Nuggets’ first game.

Arthur’s injury brings with it many questions for Micheal Malone to answer. Being that Malone has elected to start Jusuf  Nurkic and Nikola Jokic together, there’s a large hole in the front court on the bench. Kenneth Faried would be the only front court player off the bench with any NBA regular season experience.  Juancho Hernangomez has been looking solid but still lacks the strength to play power forward, let alone banging down low with NBA-caliber centers.

Wilson Chandler is another option to step into the vacant power forward minutes. Chandler has proven to be one of the better options in terms of small-ball power forwards being that he has the strength to defend in the low block and the quickness to cover wings on the perimeter while still adding another high IQ player and the ability to score from beyond the arc. Seeing as how Chandler has missed nearly two of the past three years to injury, there should be a fair amount of caution when playing Chandler large minutes at the power forward position. To give him the responsibility and stress of playing against much stronger and bruising type players will not help in terms of easing him back into the NBA.

Jarnell Stokes is an interesting option and he could find himself making the team just based on the lack of true front court players on the Nuggets’ bench. His ability to rebound tenaciously and roll to the rim hard could be a valuable addition considering the circumstances. Being that Stokes is one of the only players vying for the 15th roster spot to see any court time, it seems that he could be on the fast track to making the team. He has NBA experience and could spot-fill minutes in the front court as needed.

The Nuggets are going to need to prepare for life without Arthur, at least for the time being. He has missed a big chunk of the preseason and has not had the offseason to prepare himself so he will still have a fair amount of rust to shake off. If the Nuggets do continue starting Jokic and Nurkic together, it seems that a combo of keeping Stokes on the roster and using Faried and Chandler to fill the reserve power forward minutes would be the best route to take. For the time being, Hernangomez will get ample time to prove he is deserving of minutes himself.