He imagines watching the game with his 10-year-old, who has spent the last five years asking his dad when the Nuggets are coming back.
That day might now be coming a little closer.
An attempt to revive the team is gathering momentum. The franchise issued a call to arms earlier this week to help with its bid to re-enter the National Basketball League in 2020.
It dropped out of the league after the 2014 season for financial reasons.
"I would love to see the Nuggets back," Arlidge said.
"For me, to sit in the stands with my 10-year-old and just watch guys that I've coached run out would be a real buzz.
"And just to see the crowds come back would be great. I think what a lot of people don't understand is what the Nuggets bring to basketball.
"There [are] a whole lot of kids coming through school who have never seen high-level basketball played in the city, so for me that would be super pleasing."
The franchise hopes to raise a start-up fund of up to $50,000 by appealing to its core fan base.
It is hopeful 35-50 `founding members' will come forward and contribute $1000 each.
That money will be used to employ someone to raise a further $150,000 to $165,000.
The franchise's spokeswoman Angela Ruske said the group needed to secure the sponsorship by the end of the month to go ahead with a formal bid.
The rest of the estimated $400,000 annual budget would come from basketball camps and ticket sales.
Asked what the founding members would get in return for their $1000, Ruske said there were still details to work through. But people would get a premium family season pass and the opportunity to "meet and greet the new Nuggets team and coach at the beginning of each and every season".
"You would be recognised as founding members ... and potentially what we are looking at is the founding members to become part of the shareholders of the company that we are setting up [to run the team]."
Ruske said Basketball Otago has fielded calls from people looking to support the bid.
"And we have had one pledge come in so far and one offer of support that we are chasing up on."
Arlidge, who coached the Nuggets from 2010 to 2013, believes there is enough talent in the city to build a competitive team.
"I think we've got a handful of players in town that are good enough to play. And with the likes of some of the other players we've had in the past who would be looking to come back, you can have anywhere between five to eight players."
Add in some overseas talent and, hey presto, the Nuggets are back and hopefully more competitive than in 2010, when they returned after a year out of the league. That team lost all 18 games.
Whether the Nuggets would still operate under that name is uncertain. But Arlidge put his heart and soul into the team and would like to see the moniker prevail.
