Clippers Trade Talk: L.A.’s NBA trade deadline targets
By Tom West
Darrell Arthur
Darrell Arthur is probably the perfect frontcourt target for the Clippers before the trade deadline. Now that Smith is gone, Arthur can offer far better defense than Pierce at the four and he’s an incredibly reliable option from distance. As a new pick-and-pop or catch-and-shoot player from just inside the arc, Arthur really is the perfect target for the Clippers.
In order to acquire him, Doc will have to make the best of his relatively low importance to the Nuggets. They favor their young talented centers such as Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Joffrey Lauvergne and, of course, Kenneth Faried as the starting power forward. Arthur is playing 20.7 minutes per game this season and as one of the bigs further down the rotation, he shouldn’t be out of the reach for a team with limited trade assets like L.A.
What could the Nuggets want in return? Well, yet again this comes down to Stephenson. Crawford is another potential trade chip in this situation, but it’s still hard to see Doc sending him away, especially now that he’s found more consistency with 16.6 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting over his last 16 outings. With this efficiency, his value has increased again, especially in the absence of Griffin.
If Stephenson’s potential and talent interests them or they just want a salary cap boost, he’s probably still the Clippers’ best bet.
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However, while Doc can’t go throwing too much at Denver (after all, he hardly has much to entice them with), Arthur is worth the attention.
He’s shooting 47 percent from 16-24 feet this season, which is only made more impressive by the fact that he takes 43 percent of all his field goal attempts from that range. He’ll be a seamless fit off the bench as a floor spacer and pick-and-pop option with Pablo Prigioni, to add another dynamic to the second unit’s offense besides guards shooting and the occasional Cole Aldrich pick-and-roll.
Finally, Arthur is a far better defender than Pierce is at the four. He’s agile away from the basket and much better bodying up against bigger players in the post, holding opponents to just 47.5 percent shooting at the rim. On top of that, he even forces players to shoot 8.5 percent worse than normal within six feet and 4.5 percent worse on two-pointers overall (per NBA.com).
Without doubt, he could be the best player the Clippers can target. If this fails, though, Hickson is still waiting further down the bench for offers.
Next: A sharpshooting power forward