excellent analysis. Brandon was no longer a starter, was beginning to become a liability was only going to get worse with time and had no future potential. Not to harsh on Brandon, he was great for us for years, but he was old and had lost a step and had no offensive ability. This kid has tons of potential.
Draft board: F (speed/smaller) - Patterson, Omekanda, Krizanovic F (power/bigger) - Gonsalves, Smith, O'Neill RM - DiRaimondo LM - Wileman DM - Utility Player - Sambursky, Ustruck LB - Helton, DOuglass CB - Hohlbein, Meier G - Noble, Konopka
To those who want ot draft ot need I'd say the draft is the worst place to go for someone to play right away. The young guys in the draft are usually a year or two away, the older guys tend to be hit and miss. And why the hatin' on North? Looks like he scores about once every 2 games at NU and is a 2-time all Big Ten Selection. Not a bad soccer conference (Indiana).
To me this is how GM's on a short leash would draft. You watch the GM's and coaches that are secure and they always put the future of their franchise first. They always look long term. Coaches on a short leash don't, and GM's who think they might get canned soon don't, but secure FO's do this. We are DC United fans for life, so we should be looking at whats best for this team for the long term of our fandom and not just in '07. This pick in my view has a much stronger chance of helping us long term than a a short term quick fix on a guy not as well thought of who might, or might not be able to get the job done at this level. Yes it would be nice to get some player who can plug a hole right quick, but to me that only makes sense if the player has long term potential AND we are that plug and play caliber player away from winning again in '07. I don't see that. I think we have had too many losses this offseason to make it worth it to just simply grab a need player, and overlook a guy who has a much better chance of helping us longterm and even a cap helper as others have pointed out.
Arguez was forecasted to go as high as #3 and had the billing of the biggest upside of the younger GA players. - I like the pick at #11.
2 picks off the Combine Board (just like Dyachenko pick last year). Patterson is looking like this year's Abe Thompson (sliding from possible 1st rounder to supplemental pick).
10 goals 4 assists this year, 39 goals 15 assists in 77 games with Georgetown 2004 Big East Offensive POY
I also forgot to note (forgive me if I missed it earlier) that Goff called Arguez in the paper this morning. "United could be in position to use its first-round selection on 17-year-old midfielder Bryan Arguez, a Miami native and U.S. under-20 national team member" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011101790.html One more point for Steven!