A-League College draft

The draft is nothing but an excercise in publicity, not that it garners much.

 

I wonder how much of that PR is generatered for the player's benifit, though.

 

Minnesotas draft pick last year was good as well. Dustin Branan was just what the Thunder needed to complete their back line. With Branan in the lineup Shak was able to push up more often.

 

So was Pat Noonan for us but New England got him in the MLS draft. Still it give us something to do in the off season.

Mikey

 

I think A League should align itself more with MLS by attending the MLS Player Combine and scouting players there. Then they should draft after MLS so that there are no players taken from A-league by MLS. They might not get to draft the big names, but they will be able to scout on a larger level and then draft acordingly. This will also bring the two leagues closer making American soccer more unified to the outside media, getting both leagues more attention.

 

I said nothing about making more money in one league or the other. I think MLS gives players benefits A-League does not, like exposure to national teams and foreign leagues. A-league gives players playing time and exposure to MLS. A-league is the second tier league in America and that is not going to change without the sport catching on big time.

 

You guys are missing the point. Sure teams drafted some good players, but considering that the A-League drafted players are free to sign with anyone they want after 2 weeks of signing with an A-League team, the players obviously wanted to play with the teams that they signed with.

So my point is that they could just get rid of the draft and the teams could go out and sign those exact same players.

What good is a draft that only binds players to a team for 2 weeks?

 

What is that, like the 8th division

 

German 4th Division. It's divided into several regional leagues.

Last season, FSV Optik Rathenow finished 14th in Oberliga Nordost-Nord.

 

here it is
the 2004 a-league draft:


# Team Player Pos. School (PDL Teams)
FIRST ROUND
1 Puerto Rico Pass - -
2 Edmonton Damian Pottinger M/F Duquesne University
3 Calgary Aaron Richer D U of British Columbia
4 Atlanta Pass - -
5 Toronto Marin Pusek M/F U of Alabama
6 Syracuse Will Hesmer G Wake Forest
7 Milwaukee^ David Wagenfuhr M Creighton (Boulder Rapids Reserve)
8 Virginia Beach Phil Hucles D William & Mary (Williamsburg Legacy)
9 Portland Alan Gordon F Oregon State
10 Rochester Perek Belleh F U of Rhode Island
11 Charleston Joseph Ngwenya F Coastal Carolina (Cape Cod Crusaders)
12 Vancouver Kevin Crouch F Simon Fraser
13 Seattle Troy Ready M U of Washington (Spokane Shadow)
14 Minnesota Brian Roberts D Yale
15 Montreal Adrian Cann D/M U of Louisville
16 Milwaukee Aaron Paye F Fairleigh Dickinson

SECOND ROUND
17 Puerto Rico Pass - -
18 Edmonton Paul Dhaliwhal M/F Bowling Green
19 Calgary Mathias Mueller D Embry-Riddle
20 Atlanta Pass - -
21 Toronto Kareem Morgan D U of Alabama
22 Syracuse Chris Aloisi D Syracuse (Brooklyn Knights)
23 Richmond Scott Buete M U of Maryland (Chesapeake Dragons)
24 Virginia Beach Jeremiah White F Wake Forest (South Jersey Barons)
25 Portland Leonard Griffin D UCLA (Orange County Blue Star)
26 Rochester Matthew Delicate F Virginia Commonwealth (Richmond Kickers Future)
27 Charleston Ricky Charles F USC-Spartanburg
28 Vancouver Jordan Robinson G U of Victoria
29 Seattle James Vert M Seattle U (Seattle Sounders Select)
30 Minnesota Bobby Lish M U of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Wisconsin Rebels)
31 Montreal Olivier Occean F Southern Connecticut (Vermont Voltage)
32 Milwaukee Chad Riley M Notre Dame
^ Milwaukee received selection in trade with Richmond

 

Ngwenya is a great local talent for the Battery but I would be surprised if he wasn't picked up early in the MLS draft. Still, the Battery plays Coastal every preseason, its close to what he is familiar with, and he knows that the Battery have a good organization. so we'll see what happens.

I would love to see him play at theBaud this season. He is exciting to watch

 

It is not unheard of to pass on the draft, and has nothing to do with a team being undecided about playing in 2004.

Why bother drafting players who aren't going to play for your team? As I mentioned above players don't have to sign with a team that drafts them, and are free to go wherever they want after a few weeks. Instead of wasting their time picking draft picks that will never suit up with them those team passed and will get their players the way they do everywhere else in the world. By going out and signing players outright.

 

Not sure exactly how it works but last year UWM right back Chad Dombrowski was drafted by Milwaukee for the A-League, but about a month later was also drafted by the Chicago Fire. Chad picked up a couple knocks in pre-season and didn't earn a final spot on the roster. Anyway he returned to Milwaukee and played A-League last season. I believe Milwaukee owned his rights if he decided to play A-Leauge thats why he ended up there. I think A-league teams are taking a chance that even if their guy is drafted in MLS they may not make the final 18 roster and want to play somewhere....the next best domestic thing is A-League.

 

It is my understanding that in this example the player could have signed with ANY A-league team. Milwaukee didn't own his rights, unless he signed with them before his Fire tryout, but they probably ended up with him because he was local and familiar with the team. Drafting a player might help to eventurally sign him, but it does not bind a player to a team.

 

I have since been told it's 4 weeks that an A-League team owns the rights to a player they drafted. After that he is as free as before he was drafted.

As Timbers_Roberto states drafting a player "may" help in eventually signing that player but usually the teams draft player that they know will want to play for the team in the first place. In that regards without the draft they could have just contacted the player and signed him anyway.

Vancouver for instance usually signs local players, players that most likely would end up on Vancouvers roster even if they weren't drafted. This year was no different, signing a player from both SFU and UVic.

 

Okay I just saw this posted on USL Discussions in regards to A-League drafted players:

"Players drafted can tryout on a MLS team. If the player does not make the MLS team, he is property of the team that drafted him. He has 2 weeks to sign with that team. After that he is free to go to any A-league team."

So it looks like 2 weeks is how long a player is property of the A-League team that drafted him.

 

So who picked up Clint Mathis?

Sachin

 

Instead of passing Puerto Rico should just draft Freddy Adu for the publicity.....why the hell not?? Steal some of MLS's thunder. Then, if he doesn't make it on United's roster (bwa ha ha) they own his rights.

 

Own his A-League rights only and then for just 2 whole weeks, yipee.