2003 Superdraft - Just the FAQs, Ma'am. (updated 1/7/03)

2003 Superdraft - Just the FAQs, Ma'am.

Any word on how deep the draft will be--ie--will there be a lot of quality players on the table?

 

Re: 2003 Superdraft - Just the FAQs, Ma'am.

Not deep enough to have a good chance at finding a real player at #19.

The #9 should make the team, but would have a tough time cracking the lineup.

#19 might find a backup keeper, but any other position is probably only 50/50 to make the team.

The rest are long-shots (although a foreign college player might be around if we are prepared to use up a foreign slot on the roster).

Anyone after the first round is going to have to be better than some of the bench group including: Mr. FirstDraftPick, Leonard, Joseph, Downing, Harris, Griffiths and possibly Rooney and/or Chacon, as well as any new acquisitions, such as the Brazillian who was working out with the team.

 

Re: 2003 Superdraft - Just the FAQs, Ma'am.

This will be the deepest draft since the first organizational draft in 1996. Many underclassmen are coming out to have a shot at the Olympics. The first two rounds will be filled with Project 40 players who don't count against the 18 man roster or the salary cap. There will probably be 10 Project 40 players signed and a few other developmental players. These players will be taken ahead of the seniors who actually have to make the team. There will be some surprise names in the group so it's impossible to do a mock draft until next week.

 

Not that I'm able to go, but is this open to the public? And if so, under what conditions (eg, free, tickets needed, press only, etc)

 

It is open to the public, I believe you need to register for tickets on www.kcwizards.com

 

At present we're looking at:

Brown
Heaps - Llamossa - Kante - Franchino
Ralston - Cullen - Hernandez - Kamler
Twellman - Serna


Defensive depth: Pierce, Joseph
Midfield depth: Griffiths, Cloutier
Striker depth: Harris
Roster protection: Frias
Hopefully out the door: Rooney, Downing (roster protected), Chacon

What I consider to be our biggest needs:
1. Left-sided player: Looking at the lineup, Franchino at LB (the weakest of our big 5 defender, in my opinion) and Kamler at LM (no complaints with his play but he's getting old, possible injury concern) are two potential trouble spots. I would like to get another defensive option on the left side, who could perhaps transition to midfield if needed.
2. Backup goalkeeper: Fact: the Revs have never gone through a season without the backup keeper(s) playing at least 9 regular season games (lowest being Causey playing 9 games while Feuer was injured in 98), and it's very often more than that. Thinking back to every year since 96, the backup or a combination of backups has played 1/3 - 1/2 of the games. It's vital that we get someone who could be a starter.
3. Striker: Whether we keep Serna or not, we need an additional striker. A minimum of 4 is needed - last year it was Twellman, Harris, Fuller, and Chacon, this year it will hopefully be Twellman, Serna, Harris, and a young player from the draft.
4. Central midfielder: Bringing in someone with a couple creative bones in their foot to challenge Cullen for a spot in the midfield would be a good thing.

Hopefully we can address no less than 2 of these needs on draft day. A few quick possibilities that are supposedly available in the league or expected to enter draft:
1. Phil Salyer, Todd Dunivant, Ricky Lewis, CJ Klaas (not sure if the last two are right or left backs?)
2. Jeff Cassar; Doug Warren
3. Josh Wolff; Mike Tranchilla, Pat Noonan
4. Matt McKeon; Ricardo Clark, Guillermo Gonzalez, Eddie Gaven, Diego Walsh, Ned Grabavoy

 

wow. i didn't pay near as much attention to the superdraft as i did the allocation draft last year and it was quite eye-opening to see the whole list for the first time.

2002 MLS Super Draft

even in the top 25 (let alone the 60 alloted draft slots).....the vast majority did not see significant playing time. the ones that got a chance, seem to have made some sort of an impact. but, i'd think the chances of finding a servicable backup for adin here may be slim. (i don't remember seeing any of the ncaa guys that were big standouts)

i can see 9 of that 25 that did/somewhat "made a name for themselves" by season's end:
2. taylor twellman (ne) [mls scoring champ]
3. brad davis (ny/nj) [24 gms, 11 pts]
5. kelly gray (chi) [25 gms, 9 pts]
8. kyle martino (clb) [rookie of the year]
10. billy sleeth (chi) [??, started 7 gms]
11. daouda kante (dc,ne) [timely signing]
19. jeff stewart (col) [23 gms, 3 assts]
23. john busch (clb) [1.09 ga/14 gms]
25. gavin glinton (la) [22 gms, 6 pts]

and in that list above it almost works from fwds to mids back to defs/gks in order. meaning, if this draft holds to that form...you're likely not going to find a "scorer" if you're not in the first 1/2 of the first rnd. then again, i don't really know much about this year's class.

after this, there's literally nobody that did anything to speak of that i can find.

hey, fine with me....i can follow the first few rounds and shut it down.

 

Thanks to Rev-eler for posting the 2002 draft - I had looked for that on the MLS.net web site and didn't find it.

The lesson seems to be don't mess up in the first round (like the Metros .)

Speaking of the Metros, I saw that they gave us their 3rd round pick this year. In a perfect world, that pick would turn out to be Corey Gibbs/Conor Casey/etc.

 

i've learned over time to bookmark certain things and save 'em. the mls site its horrible to navigate when you're looking to find links to a lot of older items. however, i don't think these guys throw anything away either. if you just do a google search for what you want you'll hit an "mls link" almost every time from my experience.

 

4 more questions

1 - Will there be a final list published of all the players in the 2003 draft pool?

2 - Is it expected that there will be overseas players in the pool?

3 - Will there be a webcast?

4 - Will there be a discovery period after the draft, or is the whole concept of discoveries absurd given the current cap issues except for DCU and perhaps KC and Metro?

 

Re: 4 more questions

D'oh! Except Philip Salyer (Werder Bremen - L Def)

 

Klaas is a DEFINITELY a right back. Lewis can play either right back or left back, but plays mostly right back for Clemson, I believe.

 

Any word on them making a change in the number of DV roster slots from 4 to 6? It could make the later rounds of the draft a bit more interesting.

Sure hope they find it possible to pay these lads a bit more than the $1K/mo that they did last year.

It's late Thursday afternoon. Where is the P-40 list?

George

 

Right here:

http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/p400109signings.html

The Magpie

 

Key pieces of information that came along with the list. Downing is still a P-40 (they posted a list of graduates and he's not one of them). Also the DV Roster has been upped to six for a total roster size of 24.

 

Also, as posted elsewhere - the list of players to be participating at the combine.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=592667#post592667

Some names to watch on there: Dunivant, Diego Walsh, Mike Tranchilla, Roger Levesque, Pat Noonan, keeper Doug Warren... hopefully top Rev draft analyst Mike Marshall can add thoughts or impressions on some of the players on here?

Read elsewhere that Dunivant has been training with the Quakes this week (as well as quite a few other local players).

The Project-40 player I'm least excited about is Jacob LeBlanc. The choice to bring him in is a little mysterious, he certainly seems a few levels below the other signings.

 

My guess is that the 12 P-40's will be the first 12 picks. Does anyone think any other player in the draft will make it into the first 12?

If we consider that the first three picks have been decided--with DCU taking Eskandorian, Mutts taking Clark and the Fire taking Magee which P40 do you think the other teams ahead of the Revs will take with their first picks?

DCU--Eskanadarian
Mutts--Clark
Fire--Magee
Burn--
DCU--
Quakes--
Crew--
LA--
NE--

George

 

I don't know much about the draft, but I've heard players like Dunivant, Tranchilla, Walsh, Levesque, and even Noonan mentioned as possible picks, plus Salyer (sp?).

 

IMO, anyone that takes Jacob LeBlanc over Diego Walsh needs to have his head examined. I think it's possible that the first six or eight picks might be P-40s, but I expect at least one or two seniors to work their way into the first 12 picks.

I like Dunivant, Walsh, and Tranchilla. I'm less excited about Warren and Noonan. I'm not a big fan of Levesque. I'd be OK with Dunivant or Walsh in the first round, but I'd wait until the second round to take a shot at any of the other four.

 

O.k.,I just sent my picks to Mike, but for the Hell of it, here are the less obvious players I see going in Round #1.

Philip Sayler, formerly of Werder Bremen, possibly to Dallas.

Nate Jacqua, just recently designated at P-40, to Los Angeles where Sigi could use his size to play off against Ruiz.

and finally...

If the Revs don't land Dunivant (I think Columbus will snag him with the 7th pick,) I'd think the Revs will go for Eddie Gaven, M/F, Project-40 in the first round... and Ian Joy in the 2nd.

Why?

Ian Joy won't count as an international, even though the bulk of his life has been spent in the U.K. He was born in the USA, but started off at Tranmere Rovers (England,) eventually moved on to Stirling Albion and Montrose in Scotland before landing a regular gig with Kidderminster Harriers in the English 3rd Division last season where he played in 25 matches. Funny thing is, the Manager who brought him on-board at Kidderminster at the time was none other than Jan Molby, Steve Nicol's teammate at Liverpool during the 1980's, and to top things off, Joy plays the same position as Dunivant, left-back and left-midfield.

A young, experience pro who could step in immediately, and onw who won't likely be intimidated by the experience.

Just my 2-cents.

The Magpie

 

I don't have the knowledge to form an opinion, but do you feel that Pause , Stokes, or Lewis are less valuable than Dunivant, or rather that some or all will will go before Dunivant (along with Salyer whom you indicated might join his fellow Texans on Dallas)?

Hats off to the Magpie for that sparkling piece of connect-the-demographic-dots.

 

As I've said on other boards, "value" is entirely subjective. Stokes and Lewis could be just as good, better, or not quite as good as Dunivant. However, in terms of what the Revs can use, Dunivant may retain more "value" to them based on his experience playing in a wide left position. The Revs could use added depth there, other than central defense which has Kante, Downing, Llamosa, and Joseph. He also retains an appealing measure of versatility. That being said, Lewis, Stokes, even Pause have enough talent to retain a high "value" level in the eyes of other teams, and in the case of the 2003, teams having picks before the Revs in the first and second rounds. That's why I think the Revs would be wise to go for Gaven. There have been few young players in Revolution history who are comfortable with the ball going towards goal while also being a strong two-way player. Considering the circumstances (mainly the acquisition of Nowak and our relative lack of depth in midfield and attack,) Gaven wouldn't be a bad pick, no matter his age.

The flip-side of the coin in Joy. Truth be told he's probably something of an enigma for many in MLS. Here's a guy with some early professional experience, was raised overseas, yet has seen some time playing at youth level in the U.S. system. Granted, playing for the likes of Kidderminster, Stirling Albion and Montrose is not exactly the same as playing for perhaps a first or second division club, but it does provide a trial by fire, a professional crucible if you will. In a league such as MLS where there's a fair amount of physical play, an option such as Joy (coming out of leagues known for their aggressive, physical style of play) would be good, in that, he likely wouldn't be intimidated by the experience of playing in MLS. I.e., the learning curve could be shorter and he could contribute more quickly.

There are enough good players ahead of Joy that he could, COULD still be around for the Revs pick in the 2nd round. He sounds like a pragmatic, "get the job done" type of player that Nicol seems to favor, and maybe like Twellman, he could slip in under the radar screen somewhat.

Pretty much depends how he does in the combinem but as Jon Martin said, he does exist as a unique part of a "connect-the-demographic-dots."

The Magpie