OK, August is almost over.......Where's Gbandi?

[EMarcel]

We've been hearing since the draft that Chris would not be available until mid-August.
Well, it's almost September and still no word.
What's up????
Will Roberto Carlos Jr be playing this year????????

E

[3rd Degree]

He will certainly not be playing in August. I have yet to even see him train with the team. In fact I have not seen him even do cutting drills yet...

I will try and get an update.

[Northside Rovers]

The way Broome is playing, they can rest him until next season. No reason to risk rushing him back.

[Sandon Mibut]

I agree rushing him would be bad.

And, for the record, if any of you, or your kids, are considering playing college ball, this whole situation with Gbandi's injury should demonstrate pretty clearly who you shouldn't ever play for UConn coach Ray Reid.

He gets wins, I'll give him that, but it appears he puts winning over what's best for the players. If he had Gbandi's best interests at heart, he would have encouraged the kid to have had surgery in November, when he injured the knee. Instead, he tried to bluff the NCAA into thinking that Gbandi would return in the NCAA tournament and thus get UConn a higher seed and Gbandi's surgery was delayed till early January.

Had he gone under the knife 6 weeks earlier, there is a chance that Gbandi would be back already.

Of course, if Reid really had his player's best interests at heart this conversation would likely be moot for Burn fans, as Reid would have Gbandi leave after his junior year and he'd either be in Europe or with San Jose, which picked first in the draft last year.

Most every MLS person I ever ran into said Gbandi was Gbandi could have started in the league after his sophomore year but rather than encourage the player to go pro when he was clearly ready, Reid persuaded/pressured Gbandi to come back.

After the junior season, it looked like a good move as Gbandi won the Herman and UConn the national title. But after that last game of the 2000 season, Reid should have sent Chris on his way instead of selfishly pressuring him to come back for his senior season.

Of course, as this is a Burn forum, it's all fairly a non-issue as once he's healty Gbandi will be a very good player for the Burn.

[DigitalTron]

But there was a good point made ... Jeffries has built a very very deep team. Every single player seems to have improved ... that's crazy! Jeffries has my vote for coach of the year, even over Bradley who seems to keep winning regardless of the adversity.

Oh yeah, when healthy Gbandi will play. Next season he'll start, but the way Broome has played I think he probably deserves to start in the playoffs, with Gbandi being a sub. Vaca/O'Brien, Broome/Gbandi, Rhine/Johnson/Cerritos, Deering/Zarco/Stone, wow, that's a deep club for only having 22 players!

-Tron

[inferno man]

I thought I read somewhere that Gbandi's parents wanted him to get a degree before turning pro.

[Chamo]

Originally posted by Northside Rovers
The way Broome is playing, they can rest him until next season. No reason to risk rushing him back.
Almost exactly coach Jeffries quote in the DMN this morning.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by inferno man
I thought I read somewhere that Gbandi's parents wanted him to get a degree before turning pro.

Maybe they misunderstood or didn't know of his earnings potential then. It's quite possible that he could have gotten upwards of 150K/yr had he gone to Europe had he left college early. How you ask? Well, Corey Gibbs a former '99 U20 signed with St. Pauli of the Bundesliga last season for $170K. Before his injury Gbandi had all of Gibbs' physical ability plus twice the skill. Now I'd surely like to know which four year graduate(non-athlete) makes over $100K/yr upon graduation. And don't tell me that some of that couldn't be stashed so that he could go back and finish after his 13-15 year professional career. Fast forward to 2001-he blows a knee his senior season and voila--European offers and $ go down the tube. Probably making close to $30K--still not bad but a far cry from his previous rookie earnings potential.

[Rocket]

I get the impression Gbandi won't be playing for the Burn at all in 2002. If that's the case, would it be possible for the Burn to pick up a replacement player before they enter the playoffs?

An injury here and a red card there and the next thing we know we might see Percy Olivares enter a game. Yikes!!

[dburn157]

Originally posted by vw
An injury here and a red card there and the next thing we know we might see Percy Olivares enter a game. Yikes!!

VW, you would have to bring up that name. With thoughts like that, I won't be able to sleep at night...

[Rocket]

At least we've seen a decline in wince-when-they-come-on-the-field players

Last year: Miles Joseph & Justin Evans
This year: Percy
Next year: ??