Which MLS Coaches Waste Draft Picks? Probably Hudson, no? Mapp may yet grow into a decent player, but it won't be with DC. Similarly, all of his other picks were wasted (Kante?). The 2001 Superdraft for Miami doesn't exactly inspire confidence either (Ali Ngon? Completely wasted picks).
Bob Gansler may be the dean of American soccer, but it's been a while (2000) since he's had a good draft. He didn't have much to work with last year-- just 3rd round picks in a pretty light draft, but 2001 was a disaster. Burciaga was a 1st round bust and there were better players below Gregor. 2000 saw him pick up Garcia and steal Zavagnin in the third round-- a pretty solid draft. Sigi Schmid is a tougher coach to judge: LA's been so good that it's hard to fit draft picks in, but his last two drafts have been mediocre. He completely wasted one pair of 2nd round picks, but Moreno and Glinton were about as good as you'd expect from 2nd/3rd round picks last year. 2001 was pretty poor: Bardales was a bust and a few good picks were wasted, but at least Mullan's been ok. On the other hand, 2000 was probably one of the best superdrafts: Califf, Victorine and Vagenas as a steal in the 2nd round. Bradley seems to be the most consistent. In 2002, Capono and Sleeth were good. picks and Dipsy might turn into one. In 2001, he found Curtin in the 3rd round, though maybe he could've done better with Evans. In 2000, he picked up Bocanegra but maybe could've found someone better than Lavrinenko (Rimando, Zaidie and Ian Russell were out there). All in all, pretty solid draft choices. Of the newer coaches, Jeffries might be the best. His 2001 draft rivals LA's 2000 draft: Suarez and Vaca are great first round picks and Eddie Johnson looks like he'll develop into a great player too. Jeffries' 2002 draft looks good, but too soon to tell. Morrisson, Bussey, Stone and Behncke probably won't all develop into everday players, but none of them was an immediate bust. If Gbandi is as good as he was, the 2002 draft could be another great one. Andrulis also had a good draft in 2002. Obviously Martino was a good pick, but Leitch and Busch were steals as well. Like Sigi, Yallop might be a victim of his own success: in 2002, Luchi Gonzalez and Roner don't seem like terrible picks, but neither one could get in a solid SJ squad. Maybe Gonzalez will fit in elsewhere. Similarly, Carrieri and Robinson from 2001 look pretty solid, but Carrieri was a bust at SJ. Maybe this year, Yallop can get players that actually fit. I've left out Hankinson because there really isn't enough to go by: his teams really haven't had many good picks (although Jeff Stewart looks like a decent pickup). So who's the best at this? I'd have to say Bradley and Jeffries. And the worst? Definitely Hudson, but perhaps Gansler as well.
Good overall analysis. However you forget the biggest draftee of the Fire for 2002; Gray. Curtin was a steal when Bobby found him, can't blame him to picking up Lavrilenko (sp) he did play on IU's championship team(s). Hindsight is 20/20, but Bradley seemed to see perfectly going into the draft, as has his assist. coach, now Burn head coach Jefferies. As a Fire fan, I just hope that Sacharan has picked up tips from Bradley and Arena over the years.
I absolutely agree about Gray-- I totally took him for granted without thinking about it. I don't so much blame a coach for picking up a prospect who turns out to be a dud, but the 2000 draft was pretty deep and a third-rounder was actually worth something.
That's a pretty good summation. Yallop has done quite well in the later rounds, but in the first round has taken players that weren't really needed and then gotten rid of them within a year. Leaving no time for real developement. The ironic part is that he seems averse to drafting P-40 players (Carrieri might have been P-40, but he still didn't stick with the Quakes long enough to do anything) who could have time to develope without counting against the cap or roster.
We in the red & black stripes are hoping for good things from Bradley - but then, compared to Octavio Zambrano, anything he does will be better.
I think that's somewhat premature. Gansler planned on using Burciaga extensively last season before he tore his ACL. The Wizards must have some faith in him still because I doubt they would have traded a 1st round pick for a forward if they weren't somewhat comfortable with Burciaga. This season will probably tell more about if Burciaga was worth the pick.
McGinty, that's fair enough-- I didn't mean to imply Burciaga had no chance as a player. I'm mostly surprised he couldn't make a bigger impact on a less than perfect team in his first season. I realize that he's roster protected prospect, but 10 of 12 first round picks in a thin 2001 draft did log significant minutes. Given that the team didn't have the greatest 2001 season, I think it's fair to say that Gansler didn't conduct the best draft. I mean, wouldn't you like to have Edson Buddle or Eddie Johnson with all the trouble KC's had in 2001 in scoring?
sigi schmid sigi's got a couple major advantages 1. strong ties in so cal; arguably the best grooming ground for american soccer players. 2. ties with a UCLA program that won 2 national championships under him (victorine, vagenas) 3. southern california soccer following is huge due to their "melting pot" culture 4. what soccer player doesn't want to live and play in LA?
Sure-- that was a good pick-- Twellman may even go down as one of the best #2 overall picks ever in the draft. But you almost expect an impact player with the first couple picks in the first round. I think a great draft means not screwing up with your first pick and finding a couple of other unexpected players with your lower picks. Fuller could still be one of those players, but Clavijo didn't do anything with the rest of his picks. In contrast, his fellow coaches were picking up John Busch, Capono, Jeff Stewart, Glinton, Moreno in the same round or later. Naturally, hindsight would change a lot of picks, but drafting one stellar player and wasting the rest of the picks doesn't make for a great draft.