Back in LA for the first time since his introduction as Galaxy coach, Ruud Gullit was at The Home Depot Center yesterday catching up with some of the staff and working on preseason planning. Ruud, who is in town with his family as they prepare for the big move to America, arrived at LAX over the weekend and will be in town until Thursday when he will join Alexi, Paul, Trevor and Cobi at the MLS Combine in Fort Lauderdale.
The four day Combine is the final step in the process of recognizing talent ahead of the MLS SuperDraft in Baltimore on January 18.
The Galaxy currently have seven selections in the four round, 56-pick draft which will be shown live on ESPN2 starting at 11 a.m.
The Galaxy's seven picks are spread over all four rounds, with one in the first round, two in the second round, two in the third round and two in the fourth. Those picks are...
#4 - Galaxy's Natural First Round Selection
# 21 - Second Round Pick acquired from the New York Red Bulls as part of the John Wolyniec trade on August 16, 2006
# 28 - Second Round Pick acquired from the Houston Dynamo as part of the Kelly Gray-Nate Jaqua trade on July 3, 2007
# 29 - Third Round Pick acquired from the San Jose Earthquakes as compensation for the Galaxy's release of head coach Frank Yallop
# 34 - Third Round Pick acquired from the Columbus Crew as part of the Stefani Miglioranzi trade on January 18, 2007
# 46 - Galaxy's Natural Fourth Round Selection
# 51 - Fourth Round Pick acquired from the New York Red Bulls as part of the Santino Quaranta trade on June 25, 2007
The Galaxy had three other picks in the SuperDraft that were traded away by the club, with the Revolution claiming the Galaxy's natural second round pick (#18) through a Draft day trade in 2007, the Wizards received a second round pick from the Galaxy (#25) in the trade for Shavar Thomas last March. Incidentally, the Galaxy had originally acquired this pick from the Wizards in the trade for Kevin Hartman last year. Lastly, the Galaxy's natural third round selection (#32) was sent to the Red Bulls as part of the 2006 trade of John Wolyniec.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Ruud Stops By The Home Depot Center
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2 comments:
Admittedly I'm a "rookie" when it comes to the MLS....is this (seven picks spread out over all four rounds of the draft) a good thing??
Hey Robbie,
It depends on how you want to look at Galaxy's draft picks. Obviously, the more valuable draft picks- in terms of being able to select the more-sought-after or the more-talked-about individuals usually are in the First (Natural) Round and in the Second (Ready) rounds. So, every MLS team would love to have the majority of their picks in these two(2) rounds. On the other hand, as in Galaxy's case - by having seven(7) draft picks spread out in all four(4) rounds gives the Galaxy very good latitude when it comes to "TRADE TIME". Remember, MLS teams will start actively trading players for other teams' players... or, for more allocation money... or for another draft pick left available... or even a combination of all three, if the traded player holds that much value. This trading period will start right after the SuperDraft and can go on all the way until June, I believe. So, what each MLS team is trying to do is - they're figuring out which combination of existing players with new, fresh, healthy, young, enthusiastic draft players will give 'em the right combination to score points and start climbing in the MLS conference table... According to Houston Dynamo & New England Revolution - the less one messes with the roster, the more solid, the more unified of a team one has... True - except, when a team is missing key positional players, along with injuries, adding on age, plus the salary cap... Team Management and Team Coaches have the gut-wrenching chore of reforming their rosters. Personally, I believe that our Galaxy needs a thorough roster re-vamp; our LA Galaxy certainly needs key-positional players - because 2006 & 2007 'sucked big-time' for our LA Galaxy!
I am waiting to see what type of LA Galaxy team will come out to play at the Pan-Pacific Tourney. This will give all the Galaxy fans insight into what to expect as far as Galaxy's skill, depth, performance, and drive into MLS season 2008.
LA Galaxy management, coaches, trainers, and players need to fully understand and accept how immensively tough their competition is getting... that the LA Galaxy should not have a celebrity show-off attitude; but, rather a studied, practiced, and determined-to-win / or-else attitude.
Who knows? May be I'm just wasting my breath???
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