Darrell Arthur began his sophomore season as a potential top-five pick, but his stock decreased due to the influx of freshman talent; however, as a selection in the second half of the lottery he will be an absolute steal.

He has as impressive motor on both sides of the floor as anyone in this entire draft, which pairs with his supreme balance and athleticism.  He is almost always in an ideal position offensively and defensively and pairs.  

He has amazing court awareness and is always moving without the ball whether has an active screener or positing with purpose.

Arthur works to seal defenders in the post and is almost like a billiards' player with how he plays the angles.  He provides a big target for passers, getting an arm extended tall while widening his body.  In the post ahead of the catch, he is strong but still slippery.

He has a great feel for the arrival of the pass and will nudge his positionin advantageously when he senses the ball coming for a little extra edge.

Arthur will be effective with the ball in the low, mid, or high post.  He has a great quick release jumper for a player of his age, good rotation, and a soft touch.  He seems confident up to about 18-feet out, but that should nudge back a foot or so per year until he can take an occasional NBA three-pointer.

He has credible spin moves,both in the pivot and with the dribble and an instinctive feel for how his man is guards him.  He is almost unguardable when he gets some space to spin and will often lose his man resulting in an open lane to the bucket.

He has a nice up and under move, a reverse pivot in the post that sets up a potential jumper, and a quickly improving right-handed hook shot when he gets into the paint from the left block.  He is strong against being bodied in the post and shoots a nice little fade-away with good arc.

He won?t become a dominant scorer in the NBA and will sometimes disappear offensively from the scorer?s sheet but is always making an impact on that side of the floor due to how active he is as a screener.

Arthur is consistently looking for a defender to screen whether on-ball or off-ball.  He enjoys it, and he gets  strong body on the defender he is screening.  He will be very effective on the pick and roll and pick and pop since he is such a good shooter.  I also like how he opens up with the pivot to face the ball handler following a screen.

He isn?t a terribly gifted passer, but he makes the simple passes well and doesn?t get too ambitious.  He is really good when passing from the perimeter, keeping the ball high and seeing over the defense and also looking to make touch passes from the high post to an open teammate underneath the bucket.  Posessing good vision passing out of the post, he also doesn?t unnecessarily hold the ball too long both in the post and, more importantly, on the perimeter.

He rarely dribbles in the open floor; he?ll never be a point forward kind of player, but his handle here clearly improved from the start of the season and is  passable.

He would be a great power forward for a team that loves to run because he loves this part of the game, sprinting down the floor with gusto.  He often beats guards down the floor for easy layups and dunks.  He has good hands on the catch and is quick to finish.  Arthur didn?t test that great in Orlando, but he has monster ?basketball athleticism? and is equally powerful and agile in the air.

Defensively, he has excellent lateral quickness to pair with a strong work ethic and great fundamentals for help positioning.  He is able to influence a number of shots that he is unable to block largely because he can remain so balanced and strong despite having his arms extended high.  His defensive stance is nearly perfect, and he should have little problems guarding smaller perimeter players.

As more and more teams look for combo forwards, Arthur will be much more of a classic power forward we so commonly saw in the 90s and should be a 10-year starter at the position and the ?unsung third or fourth man? on a good playoff team.

- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Prospect Reports

Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM.  He can be reached at [email protected] where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition