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Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication- Leonardo da Vinci
K.I.S.S. Keep it Simple Stupid. This clever acronym and the quote above should be on the minds of the people calling the shots for our Houston Dynamo during tomorrow's MLS Superdraft. As soccer fans all over the globe scour the web for any information on who their club may draft, I sit reflecting on drafts of the past. Futbol and Football are very different sports, however the draft process is slightly similar as both feature a pre-draft combine and a reverse fixture draft order. As a native of Northeast Ohio, I have seen a lifetime of bad football drafting. Poor drafts are just one of the many issues that plague the Cleveland Browns but it is an important flaw. Here's some of what I've taken away from witnessing these drafting train wrecks.
When the Dynamo go on the clock for the 8th overall selection tomorrow, or if they trade said pick, it's important to avoid doing one thing: Outsmarting Yourself. I know that Mr Jordan, Coach Coyle and the rest of the staff has prepared at nauseam for the Superdraft. Preparation is important and helps to prevent making uninformed selections. Trust your information while selecting. If your team needs a defender, look strongly into selecting a defender you feel fits your team and is a good value pick at your draft position. If you have no glaring needs or don't feel a player at one of your positions of need is worth your selection, trade down and gather picks or select a player you feels potential is worth that selection. Too many times you see teams fall victim to the "Smartest Guy in The Room" theory. This entails the team usually trying to outsmart everyone will wind up outsmarting themselves. For example, taking a sleeper pick that NOBODY else was going to take that early or selecting a player that doesn't fit your team's play style and doesn't fall into the "best available category", but the thinking is you can completely alter his play style and mind frame to fit your team's needs.
I was comforted to see Owen Coyle lean towards the aforementioned "best available player available" ideal. This has always been my preferred method if you don't have a truly glaring need area. Coyle was on point with his thinking that you can never have too many great ball winners and goal scorers. With the additions of Erick Torres, Raul Rodriguez and Leonel Miranda, the Dynamo have added some elite talent to an already skilled team. The only area that may need more roster improvements would be the backline but that's not a huge, glaring need. That being said, you have no huge holes and have a very talented roster with new talent coming in which allows you to add a supremely talented player at any position and let him develop, here or on loan to Charleston. A huge benefit of having a great USL PRO affiliate like the Charleston Battery is being able to confidently loan a player to Charleston and know that he will be well coached and play for a quality organization and be developing within a good situation.
So less than 24 hours till the draft, we all look forward to seeing who will be the next member of #ForeverOrange and the Houston Dynamo organization. And I will be hopeful that the front office doesn't do what I have witnessed my hometown Browns do so many times and outsmart themselves.