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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:14 EST |
It would only be a Mockery
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me (my wife and my niece, I think it was), wondering why I was not included in the "Who Should Be Rob Stone's ExtraTime Sidekick?" poll.
For the record, the reason is my hair. I was told by a few very important people that ESPN has a "look" in mind when they seek on-air talent for soccer. You see the game is young and hip and, like, nearly X...you know, bro?
Obviously, Rob fits the bill. The man does have great hair, what can I say? I was surprised to learn, however, that Tommy Smyth has what they call "that wily college professor thing" going...and that works for them, or so they say.
Me? "Print Hair," I was told. And I was, like, "Hey, what about Peter Gammons, man...he's gray and all," and they cut me off and said, "You...are no Peter Gammons."
All of which is a long-winded way to say, I'm no Mel Kiper Jr., either. Obviously not in the 'do department, but also not in the "Draft Expert" department.
Oh, there are MLS draftniks out there. Just not me. For those looking for a mock draft, I suggest the one at www.Revsnet.com. There's no way I could do any better than that, and honestly, I'm not sure that one's going to be any good, either.
See, the MLS SuperDraft is unlike any other draft in sports because, here we are a week away from the big day, and not only do I not know much about the American college players' strengths and weaknesses due to lack of exposure, but I also have no idea who's going to get their contracts done in time to be eligible.
I'm told that one high profile college player, Brown's Corey Gibbs, is just as likely to sign a three-year deal with St. Pauli in Germany while another, Hermann Trophy winner Chris Gbandi, is going to stay at UConn for his senior season. I've also been told those things could change come Monday. And that's before we even start to think about the Project 40s and the Youth Internationals who will be playing in the combine, and the A-League guys (some American, some foreign, some with greeen cards, some without) who will enter the fray. Also, there has been no definitive answer yet as to whether teams will be able to snag some of those A-League players as allocations before the draft.
The only analysis I can provide is that history shows that teams try to fill holes in the early rounds of the draft. So, "overall player rankings" only pertain to those teams that are not specifically trying to fill positional needs. Take a look at last year's draft and you'll see that, as examples, Colorado desperately needed a goalkeeper, so they traded up for Adin Brown. Columbus needed a forward to replace Stern John, so they traded a pick for Dante Washington. The MetroStars, on the other hand, said they were looking for the "best available player," which was their reason for selecting Steve Shak No. 1. And D.C. United felt their lineup was set, so they focused on the future, selecting Bobby Convey.
I would expect the same thing to happen next week. In the No. 1 slot, San Jose needs starting players at a lot of different positions, so look for it to pick the player it has determined is the "best available." With the No. 2 and No. 6 picks, Tampa Bay is hoping to find two starters, but might have to get creative to accomplish that goal. With the second pick, the Mutiny are likely to select Tenywa Bonseu (if Kalin Bankov's green card comes through in time), then I've heard they've spoken with Columbus about a trade that would send Joseph Addo and the No. 6 pick to the Crew for Jeff Cunningham.
With the No. 3 pick, Columbus needs a left-sided midfielder and would probably consider Gibbs, if he decides he wants MLS and not St. Pauli. A big if.
And so it goes on down the line -- some teams trying to fill needs, some teams just looking for talent and other teams trying to find the best roster-exempt (Project 40 and Youth International) players to avoid disrupting their salary budget. Another factor in the draft is what teams are planning to do with their allocations. In Colorado, for example, they're hoping to add midfielder/forward John Spencer, who has played most recently with Motherwell in Scotland. If the Rapids feel confident that the MLS office will get that signing done, they can plan their draft accordingly.
The one thing that usually plays out well on Draft Day in MLS are trades. They can come fast and furious once all the GMs and coaches are sitting down in the same city. Last year, Chicago and L.A. had spoken for months about a trade involving DaMarcus Beasley, but it was not until Chicago selected Carlos Bocanegra with the No. 4 pick that Sigi Schmid made the move to secure Danny Califf and the Fire's first-round pick in this year's SuperDraft. Let's hope there's more of that type of drama come Monday.
But I'll leave the predicting to someone else.
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