D.C. United Selects Nick DeLeon In First Round Of 2012 MLS Draft

Townsend would have been battling with Brettschneider to be our #3 forward, and that likely would have switched back and forth depending on what each week’s particular match required. I’m not saying it’s not a need, but in general wide players coming from college have had more success than strikers.

Slightly smarter, roughly equal dribbler, slightly better passer, much better speed, works harder defensively. That’s not how he’ll develop, that’s how he is today, at this second.

In terms of combining a positional need with wanting to get quality wherever you can get it, finding a winger was the thing to do with this pool of talent. Mattocks and Townsend were off the board, none of the center backs (other than Wenger) look capable of much more than Ethan White in 2012, and the #10s were going to rot on the bench for us.

Frankly, I’d have been puzzled with any pick that wasn’t a winger once Townsend was taken.

I think he’s more likely to be another Ampaipitakwong than to become an important player. It happens every single year to college #10s.

I could be wrong, but I think you’re downplaying DeLeon because your heart was set on another player. As long as he has the right attitude off the field, he should be a good player. Martinez is far, far more risky, especially with the history of players like him not making it in MLS.

He went to the team most likely to get the best results out of him. RSL plays the right style for him, especially if he gets shifted out to left midfield as practice for moving into a full-time central role in the future. It’s no shock to me that Martinez and Silva went to RSL and TFC, the two teams most committed (not necessarily the most able, in TFC’s case) to playing possession soccer.

I expect us to take one in the supplemental draft next week, but he’ll very much be the 4th option there and will probably have to fight his way past various trialists in the preseason just to earn a contract.

As for a starter, it’ll be a signing from abroad somewhere, and it’ll also be the single most important thing we do in terms of players this season (short of extending De Ro’s deal, and even then you’d have a good debate either way).

Given United’s history, we’re keeping someone under wraps, probably to make sure other bidders don’t get involved and drive up his salary demands. Will he another Emilio, or another Allsopp? That’s the big question.

At least you didn’t:

• Not have a first round pick this year
• Trade away your first round pick for next year
• AND manage to use your second round pick on a GK who you fully intend not to make the team.

God bless the Metros. They do try to bring the entertainment.

and, oh yeah, build a stadium in DC. politicians be damned. build. apologize later. or better yet, bribe well.

Hoffman: We probably won’t know if this was the right call for at least 2 years, but I don’t think Hoffman is ready to fill a starter’s role, and we have a reasonable bench when it comes to forward (Wolff and Brettschneider).

As such, it became about weighing priorities: A 5th forward or a 3rd wide midfielder. The people critical of DC taking DeLeon don’t seem to get the dynamics of this United team and/or have wildly optimistic views of the big names in this draft class. Hoffman is going to be a good player, but so is DeLeon, and we are going to need DeLeon to make more appearances in meaningful games than we would Hoffman. Throw in the need to get into the playoffs after a long time on the outside, and taking needs ahead of wants becomes the logical thing to do.

Jean-Baptiste: We already have a young, GA center back who has great athleticism but needs time to develop skill on the ball and hone his positional sense. His name is Ethan White. Given our problems in the back stemming from inexperience and mental issues, I wasn’t even a little bit interested in Jean-Baptiste. Let someone else put in the 3 years of work and hope for the huge slice of luck he’s going to need to become an MLS starter.

Hedges: People harped on his slowness, but it’s hard to properly anticipate with totally unfamiliar players all around you. Given time to acclimatize himself to a set of teammates, he’ll turn out well. That said, I don’t think he would have been anything for us beyond McDonald’s back-up. With him being our best defender, that means Hedges would have been the center back with the fewest appearances on a team that had bigger needs. It’s a shame we didn’t have another 1st rounder or much to offer as a trade to get up there and grab him, but taking DeLeon instead is not a mistake.

I could see DCU fleecing NYRB again – maybe DaLuz & a bag-o-balls for Agudelo, who seems out of favor. Maybe we could get Dax back too, just for fun.

He’ll play underneath someone else. Our formation at this point looks like it’ll be a 442 with De Ro listed as a withdrawn forward and in reality wandering wherever he damn well pleases. That gives him the freedom he thrives with, yet also pushes him close enough to goal that he can be our main goalscoring threat.

Now, if Boskovic shows up unfit for preseason again, De Ro will probably get the attacking midfield job with Wolff starting as the withdrawn forward. De Ro will still wander, and it’ll be fine because Wolff is smart enough to take note of that and drop off to fill in for De Ro centrally when necessary.

Also, DeLeon is not Generation Adidas. I saw that posted somewhere yesterday, but it’s false. He has signed with the league, but he’s a graduating senior.

Granted, he’s a Machiavellian overlord, so take anything he says with a grain of salt. That said, Nowak is a Machiavellian overlord, meaning that if he is shopping Mwanga, we won’t be able to fleece him like we routinely do w/ the Metros (Remember Fred + a 1st rd pick for the Perkins allocation?).

He’s still very inconsistent.

Actually, in a lot of ways (speed, elusiveness, inconsistency) having Mwanga here would be like having a younger Davies. The main difference is that Davies is a sharper finisher and more physically strong. On the other hand, Mwanga has plenty of upside.

Unfortunately, in discussing this very topic with Scott Kessler from The Brotherly Game, the things the Union are asking for are all pretty much things we don’t have or can’t afford to give up. Maybe if we have a big stack of allocation money? That’s pretty much the only way it would happen, and I think we’re at least somewhat likely to use that money on transfer fees in the very near future or applying it towards Boskovic’s contract if he earns an extension.

In the first couple games, we’re going to have a real problem. To wit:

Pontius: On target for being 100% fit on March 1st. That means able to train 100%, not in top form. Big difference. I don’t know if he’ll be able to do much for us other than be a sub in our first couple games.

Hamid: Highly likely to be in the Olympic squad. The qualifying tournament runs from 3/22 through 4/2, and there will probably be at least a 2 week camp beforehand. That means in all likelihood that he’ll be gone for our first 4 games.

Kitchen: See above.

Najar: Probably going to be on the Honduran Olympic team, so again see above.

Opening day could look like this:

Willis; Russell, Jakovic, McDonald, Woolard; DeLeon, King, De Rosario, Boskovic; Wolff, Brettschneider

Bench: White, Shanosky, Morsink, Korb, Pontius, plus some GK we’ll end up with

Olsen could also shift Wolff to right midfield – far from his best spot, but he has played there in MLS and in Germany – push DeLeon to the left, Boskovic central, and De Ro up front. Same 11 players, though.

Obviously this will change with some signings, but we’re still looking at King (or shudder Morsink) starting at defensive midfield to start the season, as well as testing DeLeon’s versatility right away and having to play De Ro further from goal.

Note that our opening games are against Sporting and their ultra-high-pressure that we coped so poorly with, followed by a trip to LA to play the Galaxy (lucky them not having to fly cross country at any point…wonder how they swung that?), then at Vancouver, and home against Dallas.

Without knowing about our signings or how their teams will come together, I’d snap your hand off if you offered me 6 points from those 4 games, and would probably be willing to accept 4.