Let's do brunch....Charge War Room on Sunday! We'll have our own real-time PBP of Draft Day 2003 and see how the teams picks go. It'll be a quick draft, with just 5 minutes for teams to decide first-rounders, a meager 180 seconds for the remaining three rounds, with a 5-minute break, so perhaps an hour, 45 minutes or so. We can either post here, or create an online chat elsewhere as the draft plays out. Opinions, 'great pick's, WTF's, vents, grades for each of the teams when the thing is over, the whole 9 yards. Hope to see you Charge fans and others participate. Paul
Apparently there are time-outs which teams can call. see the wusa.com site for the details on timeouts
the power of all teams are having a draft party...anyone wanna petition murphy to have one for the charge? WUSA draft rules are a lil odd...i would not be suprised for kirk to call time on one of his picks...my read is that there will be a trade involved with one of the later picks, thats my though process, probs for a defender.
im just going on feeling here, kirk did allude to the wheeling and dealing not being done and with our D the way it is i wouldnt mind getting rid of either the 6 or 7 for a defender...the problem would be that well, the team who would want the 7 most, has no defense whatsoever personally id like to see fettig in red but thats pretty hard for me to believe that would happen even if she is grossly underrated.
It seems to me the general consensus is this draft is far deeper than last year and players pick at 6 and 7 will be able to contribute. I think pick 14 will be a defender, although 4,6,7 will be best available players, and if Orlandos is available at 4, Orlandos would be drafted.
my concept was that a certain team would pay way more than 7s worth to get solo...but as i said the power have no defense. Alot of iverson thread people (and kirk) missed the point about why a trade even for deflated value would be beneficial...it fills bostons need for a defender, hence orlandos probely falls to 4 and we get an instant replacement sounds like more than FMV for me but im not kirk...i doubt boston doesnt take orlandos at this time. and converting withers...well its a noble expirment...could work but id perfer a veteran.
I still think Iverson gets traded on Sunday to Boston for pick 11. The big question is what Boston does with 3, if they take Orlandos, then I believe the Charge take Withers. Hawkins goes to Atlanta at 5?? If not the Charge take her. If Solo is available to 6, draft her. At picks 11 and 14, take the best available defender. what do I think happens at 6 and 7, Solo and a forward, either Wallis or Schott.. 4 is either Orlandos or Withers... 11, is availble, and 14 are players like Deerin or Fuller..
I'll lay odds 4:5 says Iverson stays retired. 5:3 says Iverson for # 11. 2:1 says some other deal for Iverson.
I wait for Boston to draft Orlandos at 3, and then call Bosotn and sayu they can have Iverson for 11. cachundos odds look to be in the right order though
i wouldnt do that...id try to get iverson to boston before the draft, that way they may think twice about orlandos and take withers, which would give us an instant iverson replacement. and basically make the trade even
cachundo and I see Withers as a better fit than Orlandos, although the Charge web story about the draft does specifically mention getting a player like Orlandos... some one either knows something or is just speculating like we are.
it depends what need you think best needs filling, if it is Dmid take withers, if it is replacing iverson, try to bait boston into not taking her, and well iverson is good for that. im not sold as mcdowell or withers as a pure defender, you are, and well you know more about football than i do so well, i wont doubt you too much so with withers it would be moore benson titjen mitts withers Zhou? Tullock Fair Smith Sacsana Pichon With Orlandos it would be Moore Benson Titjen Orlandos Mitts McDowell or Karvelsson or Monroe Zhou? Tullock Fair Smith Pichon or is there another formation that im missing, and i agree i dont see the 4-5-1 this year unless smith gets hurt again
your 1st line-up poses the problem of Mitts and Benson be wasted offensively in a 3 back set up. I still think it's 4 in the back this year, but the 4th woman awaits Sunday.
but the question is can withers be an effective 4th defender or even this, is withers too good to be in the back (a la the problem we had last season with tullock)
east coaster, run baby run and cachundo all proclaim her talent.. she's a beast in the air... need more be said
And USA Today's guess.... 1. SD: Wagner 2. NY: Welsh 3. BOS: Solo (!!) 4. Us: Hawkins 5. Atlanta: Bush (UNC) 6. Us: Orlandos 7. Us: Wallis and with the 8th pick, CAR selects... Missy Gregg I don't think she'll go in the first round now, but they're warm... URL: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/wusa/2003-01-28-draft_x.htm Paul (I'll do my Mel Kiper imitation when I get home and post whom I think will go where )
OK Paul, if Withers gets out of the 1st round I'll pay your train fare for the Charge matches!! And please explaing why Boston drafts Solo instead of Orlandos, unless they assume Iverson is going to Boston. In which case, what to the Charge get in return.
I'm impressed that USA Today is devoting any time and space to the draft. Even if it appears to be the crack-smoking coverage. At least they probably got "Wagner with the 1st pick" right.
I think USA today has 6 of the 8 1st rounders named, although I think Gregg and Bush are selections I wouldn't make, and some of the order will be different; my picks 1-Wagner 2-Welsh 3_-Orlandos 4-Withers 5-Hawkins 6-Solo 7-Wallis 8-Misaki
Let's do brunch....Charge War Room on Sunday! I don't know what's more Twilight Zone-esque; Withers not in the first round at all, Solo going third or Gregg in the first round. But that's what USA Today ran "from staff reports". So there's no name which can be attributed to his/her picks. Maybe Soccer America or Cybersoccer News? Paul (besides, Adam, I have a weekly transpass which pays for the R5 train fare )
Let's do brunch....Charge War Room on Sunday! No, I'm no Mel Kiper ;-), but I did feel a tinge of validation that somebody else out there thinks Gregg is going to go high. I don't believe first round high, not anymore, after our draft plans got tossed into the virtual Cuisinart when Erica asked to be traded to Boston. Had that not happened, I would have grabbed Gregg at #7 because you can never have too many forwards. OK, here go my two microns, which presumes no trades. Your mileage may vary, since if there is trading like mad, then all bets are off: 1. SD: Wagner 2. NY: Welsh 3. BOS: Orlandos (make 'em choose *if* they don't have the cajonies to trade it for E-I straight-up; if they come to their senses and discover that both teams will be equally and fairly served with this solution, then we get Orlandos and Pia gets Erica) 4. Charge: Withers 5. ATL: Misaki 6. Charge: Our first 'who dat?' moment, since I do think it'll be someone who absolutely nobody has heard of, probably on defense. 7. Charge: Hawkins (*sigh*; I'm just not sold on her; you do know she'll be giving up about a quarter-foot to Wambach, Prinz, Fotop, etc.) 8. CAR: Schott Round Deux 9. NY: Solo 10. ATL: Gregg (so I guess we have a bet, Adam ) 11. BOS: Fuller 12. SJ: Wallis (Cachundo and I agree here) 13. ATL: Barr 14. Charge: Lauren Arase, GK, Portland (if we get Orlandos for Iverson; if not, then we don't have much wiggle room except to pick Deerin; we next choose at 22; if Arase is still there, grab her; if not, then either Erica Izard of Denver or Maria Yatrakis of UConn, both GK's. They were among Division 1's GAA leaders behind Arase last year, where Solo was nowheres to be found.) 15. WSH: Kelly Worden, M, UVA 16. CAR: Holly Cohen, F, UTEP (she led all Division 1 seniors this year in points per game (2.83) and goals per game (22, 1.22/game) Gregg to ATL....who will be impacted most by front-line players getting called to NT duty? Boston and Washington (we will, too, but see first paragraph as to why she won't come here). So who's next? The Beat, since Parlow and Hooper are their front line and will surely get their share of away time. I think Stone realizes that, and picked Conny Pohlers as his discovery, the leading scorer in the women's Bundesliga as insurance. He also realizes that you simply don't dismiss 180 goals and 349 points in a college career. So that's why he beats the Breakers and Freedom to the punch and drafts her...She'll start with Pohlers when both are off to NT-land, and she'll be a super-sub coming off the bench the rest of the time. Unless he gets an offer from San Diego, the only other team which will be nailed more by callups (Aly, Foudy, Mac) for a trade. Paul
I think the earliest that Missy Gregg will be drafted will be in the 3rd round - the 'why not?' round. I wouldn't dare say that no one will take her early, but I just don't think Stone's that kooky. Maybe Gabarra. I think teams that have watched Schott-vs-Wallis - such as PHL & CAR - will take Wallis. That means a 1st-round pick.
It will come down to in the end which team is going to be savaged by NT callups to its forwards the most. We do agree she won't go in the first round. The team on the short end of those NT callups will draft Gregg first. I think that will be Atlanta. They've got a #13, so they can address midfield or D with that. No other team has an extra second-round pick. That will be the 'freebie' for Stone. I dropped a line into the Charge front office about a fan party on Sunday; did it earlier tonight; probably won't be acted on, but at least they know there is interest in one. Of course, since we're getting a voluminous amount of hits on all of our new topics now (thanks to everybody for your contribution, no matter what point of view), maybe they'll read this anyways... This is one hopping board, and it's still the offseason... Paul