Hey DCU! We picked Kevin Ara at #24 You owe me a beer! The bet was that Ara wouldn't be available at #34. We picked him at #24. I win. Beer is good. Anyway, I wrote a ton about Ara in the combine notes thread. Check there for lots of information.
Listening to broadcast. Sounds like we traded our 2nd round and 3rd round picks in next year's (2005) draft to KC for the draft spot. Then we took Ara. Can anyone confirm that?
The trade was 2005's 2nd and 3rd round pick to KC. That's a hell of a lot to give up. Nowak must really have wanted him. It's funny. I was higher on this guy than anyone and I'm totally shocked that we picked him up. I'm floored. That beer's gonna taste good though.
2nd AND 3rd? That's a bit steep. My hope is that Nowak plans to have the last pick in each of those rounds. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Nowak develops and then utilizes Ara.
I think we gave up to much for a third round defender. We lost a second and third round pick next year. That could be two potentially good players. The only thing I can think of is either: 1. Novack had him rated that high 2. Just speculation on my part, but Nellie may be gone leavng us without great cover (Nellie, Ivanov gone, and Reyes recovering from a serious injury) 3. A trade for one of our defenders is in the works
Hey Knave...you da man! I'd accuse you of having been part of United's scouting organization...but if that were so we'd never have heard about Ara from you...
All hail Knave. Whatever you saw must have gotten the new manager equally fired up. I see you mentioned Ara is early as a week ago on Bergin's site. Has DC contacted you? This sounds like you might be intercepting AEG emails.
he was Harvard's 4th leading scorer this year and is listed as a middie in his bio. is he the missing d mid? or is he straight d.
I am not worried at all about what we gave up. Look at the way picks fly around MLS before and during the draft. With the present salary cap situation, early picks can end up being useless to some teams and they look to dump them before the draft. Guess what, we didn't have the 24th pick yesterday did we??
I'm curious about that as well. I see him listed at 6'2" and a Defender, but Knave said he played in the middle of the park in the combine, so it looks like maybe he's a D-Mid. Knave?
D-mid, D? Knave: you reported Ara looked out of position at the d-mid position and seemed sluggish and less polished in days 2 & 3 at the combine. No way is he a replacement for Nelson right--as some speculate on the decision to trade for him?
Knave, you will be held personally responsible for any mistakes Ara makes during the next season. Of course, credit for the good stuff will be allocated to the coaching staff... Have a nice day.
Are we sure the coaching staff hasn't taken over Knave's position? I mean that writeup, wow..... If so, looks bad for Chino!
I know. I'm gonna take serious sh!t if this guy flakes. Yeah, he didn't look great the 2nd and 3rd day playing d-mid. But what he lacked were things that can be coached. He has all the intangibles that you can't coach. He's a gamble but maybe a smart one. Hopefully it'll work out. He's a real finesse player though. I think that pick signals a change in DC United's ethos. You'd never call a Ara a brave or courageous player. Hudson wouldn't have given this guy any look whatsoever. That pick to me signals a radical change in DC United's character from the Hudson era.
Well if he's a finess player than I seriously doubt that he would be our new D-Mid. Makes me wonder if he's "tough" enough to play defense. Very interesting description of him Knave. Makes me unsure of how he fits into DC's plans.
I was just thinking about the Nelsen/Ara comparison. It's hard to tell whether Ara will have to move to the back line or whether he'll be able to keep up with the pace at defensive midfield. It was impossible to tell at the combine because 1) the pace was slower than mls and 2) the players were all out of shape and, as a consequence, exhausted. I will say that Ara's strengths are his size, decent speed and agility, his long range passing/vision, and his ability to hold the ball under pressure. His principle weakness is a certain softness about his game. I imaginet that's a product of playing in the Ivy League and will disappear quickly. Were Rongen or Ray still our coach, I'd say that he won't be ready to contribute for at least a year and when he is ready, it'll be for the back line. However, because we have a real coach now, Ara may make a smooth transition to defensive midfield. There's no guarantee that he'll be able to make the transition to MLS, but I'm guessing that Nowak is completely confident that he'll coach Ara through the transition and turn him into a very good player. As Knave said, Ara has many things that just can't be coached at this stage of a player's career. 1) He's an athletic big guy. 2) He has very good "field sense." (He plays the ball quickly and does a great job of finding the man in open space.) 3) He's technically solid on the ball.
Links with photos http://gocrimson.ocsn.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/ara_kevin00.html http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/10.16/07-soccer.html