Let's talk the draft people. I'm talking the SuperDraft here. I know it is two + months away, but I've been following the college game more this year and I have some guys I want the Rapids to sign. First we'll need to figure out which rounds we have selections in. I think we traded the first round for Joe C. A good trade all around. In addition we traded away our sixth round pick for Lewis. The jury is still out on that one. So that leaves us with rounds two through five, baring any other trades and manuvers. Our first priority should be attackers. History shows that second round players can contribute to their MLS team in the first season. So here are some exciting attackers who should be available this coming season. It will be fun to see how they all do in the upcoming NCAA Championship. Abe Thompson Senior at Maryland. This season he has 10 goals and 5 assists for 25 points. Over his college career he has 107 points. He has good size at 6' - 1" and should be able to contribute right off the bat. Since he's a senior he's not going to be able to sign P-40 and will be around later in the draft. Sasha Gotsmanov Senior at URI. This guy has Belarus nationality so I'm not sure if he is a great draft pick because he might head to Europe right away. He is leading the country with 17 goals and has 7 assists. He's another 6 footer and would provide some size in the box. Someone on these boards I've talked with has seen him play and loves his style, thinks he'll fit into MLS very well. Ryan Pore Junior at University of Tulsa. Through his Junior season Ryan has scored 104 points. He might come out as a junior and p-40 so he might not still be around in the second round. This guy is a proven scorer. I can't list everyone I'm following but here is a website with a lot of the names and some I'm not following. It is broken out by class and stuff like that. Check it out.
I say trade the rest of the picks. Didn't need the draft to get Borchers and Cila. Draft has only provided Crawford, Stewart, and Sullivan on the current roster. Haven't seen Sullivan and Stewart play much this year. So maybe keep the 4th round pick, cause Crawford was a good pickup that late. Sullivan a 5th, Stewart a 2nd. Hopefully someone else will be in charge of the selections this year.
I agree with the end of your statement. I hope Hanki is gone in the next few days and someone else will come into make the draft selections. However, I don't think we should trade away all of the other picks. As other teams have shown the draft can add great talent and depth to a team. Maybe we can trade into the first round somehow. DLT to Chivas for their #1 pick might not be too bad.
Here's what I have about the draft. relesead: 6th rounder to LA For Lewis 2nd rounder to DC for discovery (Delgado) conditional pick to SJ for Wes Hart 3rd rnd & 4th rnd to SJ for Cannon conditional pick to CHI for Rey Martinez no net change: conditional pick from CLB for Fraser, sent back for Taylor 2004 draft pick acquired: coditional pick from CLB for Herdsman rights 2nd round pick from DAL for Garlick so my guess is a 1st rndr (natural) and Garlicks 2nd rounder is all that's left guessing that conditional picks Herdsman and natural 5th cancel conditional Hart/Rey picks. that's risky to guess. hard to believe there's a 1st rndr left. first time since 2000 I think. This is good news cause last years draft was 14 deep in players who like good picks. Unfortunately 15th was Gregorio and no team made a good pick (that's produced in 2004: Pickens, Hesmer, Stammler?) until 28th (Stephenson) so the "sure bets" were about 14 deep.
I thought Cannon was costing another first rounder, but here's what I find http://www.coloradorapids.com/News/newsdetails.asp?ID=216 http://web.archive.org/web/20040221055606/http://mlsnet.com/content/03/col0819cannon.html so pretty sure it was the Cochrane pick this year (1st rnd) with 2005 3&4 rounds
Wow, if we have a first round pick that'd be great news. I thought we burned it. Hopefully you're right, swedcrip34. Based on the finish in the regular season this should be the draft order: 1. Chivas or SLC 2. Chivas or SLC 3. Chicago 4. New England 5. Dallas 6. San Jose 7. MetroStars 8. Colorado 9. D.C. United 10. Los Angeles 11. Columbus 12. Kansas City This is based on points. I don't know if Dallas will move ahead of New England based on the fact they didn't make the playoffs. With the 8th pick we should be able to draft someone who is going to be a real threat in his first season.
It looks that way. There is also the conditional coditional pick from CLB for Herdsman rights. Who knows when that will come into play. 16th should be able to give us someone who will also be able to contribute.
IIRC, the playoffs factor into draft order so it'd be (assuming your order above is correct for reg season) 1&2 Chivas and SLC 3 Chicago 4 Dallas 5 San Jose 6 MetroSatrs 7 Colorado 8 Columbus 9&10 losers this weekend (NE or DC 9, LA or KC 10) 11 MLS Cup runner-up 12 MLS Cup winner here's last years order DAL CLB LA DC COL MET KC NE CHI SJ so by reg season order but by grouped playoff exit (Did not make playoffs, 1st rnd losers, conf fin losers, runner-up, MLS Cup winner)
8th (1st natural) and 17th (dallas 2nd natural) I think, with the 3 conditonal picks in question also MLS often has a random pick switch by a salary cap move or some unannounced future considerations I still haven't figured out what NE got for the future considerations to Ian Feur! or if Hahnemann got COL something when leaving. I have a couple picks in the draft history of COL I can't explain. I can post that later and maybe someone here can help me out
Last year's 8th pick was Dempsey. Man that'd be sweet. We can't trade either of these picks away. It's time to start building this team correctly ... through the draft and with strong Americans complemented by the correct SIs. Enough of this patching up the team year after year.
Are you sure Chivas and SLC get the top two picks? In most leagues, expansion teams are excluded from the top three picks or so. Quango
pretty sure it was announced they would. Miami & Chicago got the top picks in 98 (team that goes second in expansion draft went first in the college draft - chose 1st in college draft over 1st in supplemental draft, but there's no longer any real supplemental draft)
The future of this league is young Anmericans. The Metrostars might have had problems this year but they're going to be scarey in a couple of years. The teams that are successful in the future will be those that use the extra developmental slots available next season to grow future talent. Hanki has always based his teams on internationals and thrown away the draft choices. One more reason....
Given what happened with Adolfo Fiasco Gregorio, I can't put much faith in Hankinson/Counce getting much of anyone in the draft no matter what picks they have at their disposal.
I know the feeling. I hope they can change directions this year and realize they shouldn't draft a kid with a Euro passport.
note to moderator: Recommend fixing the typo in the title of this thread. Shoud read "Colorado Rapids Daft Thread"
Speaking of Adolfo... Anyone have an idea how committed he is to England? I read through a few match reports from Darlington games, and it sounds like he's doing well. Is it really better to play in the English 2nd (which is like the 99th division or something) over MLS. He's on a 3 month deal with them, and has been starting. It'll be interesting to see if he's signed full time.
It's probably better if you want to move up in the ranks of English football ... but as far as quality of play goes, I doubt it. By most accounts MLS fits somewhere in Championship ... and to give a player comparison, Junior Agogo is like the second leading scorer in Division two (which is the 4th division of English football).