January 16th, 2009 . 2:15 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

“So, how do you think they did?”  I can’t tell you how many times I was asked that in the aftermath of the MLS SuperDraft.  It’s the most frequently asked question for about a week from fans, media, other teams, and even FCD staffers.  So I’m going to kill a couple birds with one stone here and evaluate the FCD haul.  Given the circumstances, I think FCD did a good job with the draft, but maybe could have done just a bit more with a little risk to help the team in the near term.

FCD only had three picks but all were in the first two rounds having traded some of the later ones away and added some higher ones.  Overall this was a good position to be in since FCD doesn’t have much open roster space.

Peri Marosevic: 1st Round 5th Pick, 5th Overall

Marosevic is 19 year old Generation adidas striker from the University of Michigan who has played both with the U17 and U20.  He’s a sought after prospect with a bright future.  He’s smart, works his tail off, and can score tons of goal.  A class finisher, he frequently finds the back of the net.  A good player in tight coverage, he does harass defenses.  Marosevic is an in the box scrappy goal poacher.  What he doesn’t possess is nifty ball skills or impressive pace.

This pick is where I have a little criticism, although it’s not a major complain. Marosevic is undoubtedly a sought after player with upside.  Certainly the Ga protection and cap exemption are nice.  But he’s still a raw and developing player.  In my opinion with the trade of Dominic Oduro to New York FC Dallas needed a speed striker that could contribute a late game threat off the bench.  Marosevic, being a young unfinished product, is what Hyndman had appeared to not want more of, i.e. young unfinished kids.

One player who is much more complete now and ready to contribute in my opinion, and who I rated higher, was UCSB’s Chris Pontius.  Pontius has better touch and is more advanced tactically and technically than Marosevic.  Pontius is a more complete, well rounded player and is much more ready to contribute right away.  To be fair he’s not any faster than Marosevic and the upside is arguably less.  This remains a question of now versus later.

Edit: I’m a moron. I forgot TFC took White at #4.

The player I would have been sorely tempted to roll the dice on would have been the high risk high rearward choice of UConn’s O’Brian White.  White is a tremendously talented striker with some serious wheels.  Unfortunately he blew out his ACL and won’t be back on the training field till April at the earliest.  As with any ACL you never know if the player will fully recovery.  In the long run he would have been a better Cunningham replacement and by the end of this year should have been a high pace striker off the bench.  But really given the high risk of the ACL I can’t complain to much.

Hyndman selected the player that best fit his system.  In the end given the importance he places on that value the one he picked is the better fit.

George John: 1st Round 14th Pick, 14th Overall

John is a tall and strong central defender. Or at least he’s a central defender now, in college he was a holding midfielder.  That means he’s got really good feet and is a strong passer for a defender.  He also reads the game really well.  Hyndman had an eye on him because SMU had played Washington while Hyndman was still coaching college ball. 

Unfortunately for him but perhaps fortunately for FCD, John had his senior year ended early with a meniscus operation, so he was only about 80 to 85 percent at the combine.  Still he was quiet impressive given the status of the knee.  What I had thought might have been an aggravation of the knee on day three I have since learned was just some swelling from the intense weekends play after a long lay off. 

Only one inch shorter than Omar Gonzalez, there is a fair comparison to be made between the two.  Both are big strong intimidating defenders who can dominate in the air.  Both have stronger than average feet from having play further up the field. Both are not knows as fast players, but have long stride and should be plenty quick enough for MLS.  Omar was the more dominate college player and has the coveted Generation adidas contract. 

John would almost certainly have been taken by Seattle at 16, so grabbing him at 14 was Hyndman’s only choice to get a player he clearly wanted.

Brian Shriver: 2nd Round 12th Pick, 27th Overall

Shriver is a hard working (are you sensing a theme) player out of the University of North Carolina.  He’s been a wide midfielder most of his career but moved to the front line this year and led Carolina in scoring with 14 goals and 5 assists.  He helped UNC march all the way to the NCAA Final.  While he did play up top his senior year, I feel Shriver is most suited to play wide mid at the pro elvel. That’s why I ranked him as a midfielder and not a striker and compared him to a Brian Mullan in style and temperament.

Shriver wasn’t invited to the MLS combine, but clearly Hyndman has seen enough of the player at the College Cup here in Dallas to take him in the second round.  Again this is a great fit pick as the Shriver is the kind of hard working guy Hyndman loves and he is a pure wide runner of the line.  If the coach had wanted more speed players like George Mason’s Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe, Saint Louis’ Kyle Patterson, or South Florida’s Jordan Seabrook were available.  Shriver is a more complete and polished player and the step up in pace would be minor.

Conclusions

Overall a nice bit of drafting by Hyndman and company.  Given the talent available my complaints are minor and the long run fit for the coach is higher the way they went.  For the teal improvements in the team the coach wants the draft is going to have minimal consequence anyway.

Spring training starts Monday in earnest.  Let the fun being.

Categories: 120 Fahrenheit.

11 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment