News: NYRB 2010 Draft Selections

Personally, I think Soler and Richie liked what they saw in Garcia. He just looks like that little guy you bring into games late to just torment the opposition.

 

Our Draft Grade from pro player pipeline:

http://proplayerpipeline.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/2010-draft-team-grades/

 

Except it wasn't just Red Bulls that were skeptical of Siriboe and Morrow, both players fell down the draft order below many other defenders. The difference between da Luz and Warner may be more of a toss-up.

He also gives Philly a C-, while San Jose gets an A, presumably for picking Opara.

Somewhere I can hear an axe grinding.

 

So there's Johnny Toro, Jamison, Uncle Red Bull, Jevanvoo, Eric and who else?

 

The guy from pro player probably gave our team the lowest grade, but most of the other commentators were very complementary. Da Luz was very well liked by Ives, Brian Lewis at the NY Post Soccer blog as well as John Harkes on ESPN, no so much by Buzz Carrick. Garcia was liked by many especially where we got him (Carrick, Ives, Harkes, etc..), even Connor Chin by Carrick was highighted because of pace and size, if you take it as a whole it does look like when we look back at the end of the year that this will be seen as a good draft. I am not sure Opara will be as good.

 

I like this entry so:

"It was all going so well for him, and then... this setback. (Draft for RB NY/NJ

Um, I mean, congratulations Conor!" (Ian Lozada)

 

Considering we needed some help on the left, especially since DvdB left I like Da Luz over Warner, especially since Da Luz performed well at College Cup. On the right we still have Richards, Mbuta and for potentially Hall to switch over there. Tim Ream otoh, I completely agree with.

 

I'm disappointed that we weren't able to trade up to get Duka and I suspect that is going to come back to haunt us in the future. Much of the criticism of the draft, however, seems centered around the idea that we didn't trade other assets to get more picks like Philly did. That might have been a mistake, but we won't know for quite a while untile we see what we do with those assets.

Should we have swapped allocation spots with Dallas for the 6 pick? Well, it depends who comes back to the US. If no good Nat players return, it will have been a mistake. If a player like Bocanegra, Beasley, or Feilhaber decide after the World Cup that they want to come back to the US, we would be kicking ourselves if we lost the chance to get them just for a draft pick. Either way you choose, you are gambling and have to hope that you get a bit lucky.

The same goes for allocation money. Who do you bring in with that money? Is it a solid CB who helps us win or is it the next Rojas? Personally, I would have traded the allocation money to get Dallas' spot, but not swapped our #1 allocation spot.

As for the picks, we have to hope that "everybody" was right about Tchani. I really like the Da Luz pick based on the descriptions of him and the youtube clips. One thing that stands out in the clips is that he is an excellent long passer. You can see him perfectly float long pass after long pass onto the strikers. That isn't only rare in the NCAA, its pretty rare in MLS as well.

Whether it is due to Soler or Williams, I think Ives is right that we made a deliberate decision to go for technically skilled players insted of pure athletes. And I agree with that philosophy 100%. Now we just have to see if those are the right technically skilled players. And hope that Bocanegra's wife is getting homesick.

 

He also gave Houston a B despite the fact that they didn't pick until #43, with about 2/3 of the draft done. So I take it with a grain of salt. Call me crazy; but there's no way that a student should get a good grade if they miss over half the classes. Even if all their picks are stellar from that point, most of the really good players were gone by then. Even if making smart picks is a criteria, it isn't the only one. Actually choosing quality players is important when analyzing the draft. That is what the Red Bulls did yesterday. I think you could quibble around the edges; but they didn't do anything glaringly stupid.

I think the decision to go for skill players meant that some of the athletes were ignored; but, a smooth passing team that provides good service to Angel will be far more important than bringing in more Dane Richards and Marvell Wynne types.

 

yeah it's dane richards 2.0, less pace and size (didn't think that was possible) but much more vision and passing. they probably shoot the same.

 

both garcia and chinn have non typical soccer bodies. usually you'd like your players to have some height and garcia doesn't have that. he definitely makes up for it in skill. he was worth our last pick anyway. i was incredibly confused by the chinn draft cuz we already have jpa, kandji and wolyniec and have been linked to henry after wc2010.

we shoudlve guessed that richie was going to package a couple of picks after his combine interview: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhahLcZ3HAc"]YouTube- New York Red Bulls: Richie Willams on MLS Combine 2010[/ame]

 

also da luz looks very left footed from this clip:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkJ9Kg2T-A"]YouTube- New York Red Bulls: Austin De Luz PreDraft highlights[/ame]
he's much better in these wake games:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgsCrsGveDY"]YouTube- Austin daluz Wake Forest Highlights[/ame]

 

I have to say that overall I am pleased. I'm glad we got Tchani at #2, and while I was hoping to move up for Duka, taking Da Luz at #14 is looking better and better to me. Even though we expect DVB to end up in NY, he's not here yet and that means we need a left winger.

I also love the philosophy of taking technical gifted players, which is the 100% opposite strategy that Osorio had. I can't remember how many times I was pulling my hair out at Richards or Borman as they botched simple traps, passes, etc. Don't build a track team, BUILD A SOCCER TEAM!!

From watching more of Da Luz's highlight videos he is exactly what we need and looks like he can deliver some tight crosses.

That being said I say we still should pay the cheap allocation money required to get DVB, as you don't want to lean too much on these rookies from the start. Let him come off the bench and get solid PT gradually. Imagine if we tried to start a midfield of: Da Luz---Tchani--Stammler---Hall
Wow, that is young and in-experienced!

As far as Ream goes, I'd be lying if I said my jaw didn't drop when we didn't take Watson. I thought it was working perfectly as he dropped to #18. But, I'm willing to give the guy a break. After all if we come out of this draft with 2 solid starters a year from now that will be a success.

But, I still this Soler has his work to do to go out and find a solid CB. That is CLEARLY our biggest hole right now.

 

excellent post. I do like what the new regime is doing, getting technical and skilled players over fast athletes. Agreed a veteran CB and VDB and this will be a decent team with a nice future. What I'm excited about is now for the first time, playing on what should be a great grass surface, we'll be able to play real, attractive soccer.

 

I have to say that I was really impressed with what NYRB accomplished on draft day, and was already impressed with acquiring Roy Miller.

I have no doubt that Albright, Miller, Tchani, and Da Luz will contribute this year, and Ream, Chin, and Garcia have the look of good prospects.

Here's hoping that the path between Chester and Harrison is well worn by traveling supporters and the growth of a classic rivalry.

 

to paraphrase my post on the union board, i officially dislike the union, but your front office is doing an amazing job. yet another ny-philly rivalry. should be good right off the bat.

 

A concerted effort in this draft to get some players capable of actually stringing 3 passes together, something we were lucky to see twice a game last season.

 

I couldn't have said it better Homebrew!

This is from Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney:

http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=36315&Nid=109993&p=282641

 

Exactly correct about the grinding noise you hear.

The great thing is we can all look back a year or two from now and see how accurate or not grades like this turn out to be. It's fun to go back and see how far right or wrong and how often these prognaticators stick their foots in their mouths. Some of them are really horrible at what they try to do.

 

Print prognosticators are writers with a fancy name. They aren't close to having the knowledge that GMs (i.e. professionals) have, probably just one small notch above many posters on these boards.

It would be interesting, however, to go back and see what we thought about past draft choices (Steve Shak, anyone)? Might also make us realize that even the pros don't know who will pan out and who won't.

 

Here is Ive's take. RB ranked 3rd
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=725512&sec=mls&root=mls&cc=5901

 

So far the consensus grade appears to be "B" according to ASN's poll

 

So a bunch of random people are deciding the grade?