1. What team had the best draft?
RSL had a great draft, landing a top 5 talent in Enzo Martinez all the way down at #17. He could be a full-time starter by midseason. The selection of Sebastian Velasquz from Spartanburg may be the pick of the day if the youngster realizes his full potential.
2. Who are the best players still available for the supplemental draft?
Let’s start with Akron’s Luke Holmes, who at one time was projected to be a late first round or early second round selection. Holmes is a former NAIA National Player of the Year and had a strong finish to his senior season. Holmes can score goals, defend, and create opportunities for others. Someone has to be willing to take a chance on one of the youth internationals, perhaps Jason Banton or Gienir Garcia.
3. What team had the worst draft?
We weren’t impressed with Houston, who reached for Rolfe in a year full of quality attackers. UCF’s Warren Creavalle probably won’t make it out of training camp. It really could be a wasted year for the Dynamo, who really needed to find the next Brian Ching.
4. Why were no youth international players chosen?
The collegiate players available for the draft were particularly impressive this year. In other words, we had a very deep draft this year. As many as 15 players could develop into starters by midseason or sooner.
Keep in mind we only saw 1 non-Division I player selected and that teams are always leery of using their international roster slots on unproven players. I think the “John Rooney Effect” played a key role as well. The hype surrounding the NYRB midfielder proved to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors in just 1 season in MLS.
5. Which is more important: the draft or Homegrown Players?
The draft is the key to many sports, but soccer is not one of them. Drafting a franchise player is not something you hear about in MLS because it takes much more than one promising player to build a champion. There is no Andrew Luck in the MLS SuperDraft.
Homegrown players are becoming more popular as the MLS academy system starts to bear fruit. High end players are getting signed before they even think about the draft. Think of Ben Speas from UNC. He would have been a first round pick in the draft and could even have been headed to Europe with teammate Billy Schuler, but instead is headed back home to Ohio with the Crew.
The academy system is more of a European mindset, which is where we should be headed in the long run.
