Well there are still the Conrad trade rumors, if he goes then we do need more center back cover. And from Robb's comments we're bringing in a lot of players in preseason I would bet many of them are offensive.
It's possible the FO is trying to build up the defense through the draft (where it takes longer to grasp the game anyway) and use free agents/internationals to plug in on offense. Our second-level defense (MacKenzie/Marquess/Watson/Holhbein/etc) could use a little shake-up too. Having said that, I would've loved to see them nab a goalie like Johnson with that second third rounder.
The team has said in the past that you don't get offensive players in the draft and the best way to get those is through international players, whether that was Onalfo's mantra or the organization as a whole I don't know.
Sarkodie has a ton of experience, I like that pick too. He needed to spend more time at the outside earlier in his career but still, a really smart kid - pre-med I think, and has played top competition.
Just wanted to thank you all for the running commentary. Work was too busy to let me really follow the tracker beyond a few glimpses here and there up until the second round. This was a nice read tonight.
http://proplayerpipeline.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/2010-draft-team-grades/ Joe did not like our draft at all. He absolutely rips apart the picking of Aiyegbusi with the 20th pick. That pick continues to be the big question mark I have about our picks. I hadn't really seen much that showed he was going to be a player taken in the first 2 rounds. It would seem he'd of been a player we could have grabbed later in the draft.
What he seems to fail to understand is that Vermes was drafting with an overall height cap of 30". We were gonna draft the two 6'5" behemoths, so it only makes sense we'd take a 5'5" to balance it out.
Seems like we make at least one of these types of picks every year, though. Not to be an absolute pessimist, but I was actually kind of surprised we grabbed Teal - how many times in the past have we actually grabbed the best player available with our pick? (Chance Myers #1, anyone?)
Interesting how it jives with Ives take... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/column...oot=mls&cc=5901&campaign=rss&source=soccernet Particularily us and Philly.
Another interview Bunbury did following his selection... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cfFwHGqmH8"]YouTube- Kansas City Wizards' Teal Bunbury[/ame] And here is wvhooligan's analysis of our draft yesterday...
MLS draft grades are absolutely and utterly pointless pontificating. NO ONE knows how these guys are going to turn out. It's a complete wait-and-see. Certainly not anything anyone needs to worry too much about at this point. Not to mention there are all kinds of international signings and scoutings going on right now, and the draft is conducted in that context, which context all of these guys issuing the grades don't have a complete picture of.
Maybe we are just giving up on midfield and are planning on playing eight across the back and three up front. I think the bottom line is we are all unsure what the organization plan is for the team and how the draft, and external stuff gels with that. It may be that they feel with Teal and the investment in forwards in the past (Christman, Zoltan etc) that we have enough up top to score a few extra goals ..... and that preventing more goals might be the key to winning games. Pure speculation but I am guessing its much easier to construct a phenomenal defensive unit with depth than it is to win the game with your midfield and attack. Guess we'll find out, or at least I hope it looks like there is plan once the season has started ... defensively we were just shitty down the stretch despite Vermes getting the team playing like they might score goals. More fluid going forward, shaky as hell at the back. Who knows ...
Don't look much into a draft. Rough guess is that 3/5ths of draft picks don't make the squad. With the demise of the reserve league the rosters got smaller. They have to beat someone out of a slot. Guys like Kraus, McKenzie, Marquess, Leathers, Morsink, Watson, and Zusi. Right now our team is no different than last year minus Gomez. As of right now the person to fill Gomez's roll would be Zusi, if it were on the left that would be Espinoza.
No, I just think he's (relatively) objective -- something the vast majority of BigSoccer posters certainly are not. Most on these boards love to parrot the standard talking points about KC soccer -- no fans, lousy players, bunkering style of play (YEARS after Gansler left town!), etc ad nauseum -- without bothering to analytically examine what's going right and wrong (t)here and what kind of a trajectory KC soccer is on. For this possibly being the "thinking man's game", there usually isn't a whole lot of actual thinking going on amongst the fans.
Vermes on the draft. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBRbrdcDpKI"]YouTube- Peter Vermes on the 2010 SuperDraft[/ame]
Another video interview with Bunbury, this one from Canada's SportsNet. Gotta wonder when this kid is gonna get tired of all the questions and comparisons to his father... http://www.24thminute.com/2010/01/bunbury-talks-again.html
Can't get the link at work to work so I'm not sure it's anything ground breaking, but got this tweet from MLS_Insider Inside the SuperDraft Ep 3: MoJo, @KCWizards try to trade w/ @NewYorkRedBulls, who nab @Union2010 target Austin da Luz http://bit.ly/9hdZvM
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRaZQ9gaDLE"]YouTube- Inside the SuperDraft - Episode 3[/ame] not much to see, no players were named and we can only speculate as to who PV wanted to get there but there are only three possibilities; Tim Ream, Mike Thomas, or K.