It's pretty clear that the Rapids need help in the 2013 MLS Draft. In fact, they could probably use even more than the three picks that they currently have. Heck, they might even get one if they pull off a trade with someone, but draft pick trades for known commodities aren't very common around here. Anyway, that's another story.
Dillon Serna seems very, very likely to get signed on to a professional contract this off-season as well. That should add a little something to the midfield and could dissuade the team from going that direction with another youngster in the draft.
The three spots that I think need the most help are pretty essential spots, and, if they use their picks shrewdly, I think they can probably grab someone to fit all three needs. Here's the three spots, in the order that I would be picking them if the Rapids were dumb enough to hand me the GM keys for a day.
First Round No. 6: Center Back – I really wanted the Rapids to pick a right back here. I really, really did.
Problem is, there just don't seem to be all that many good outside backs at the top of the draft. Walker Zimmerman, Top Drawer Soccer's top pick in their mock draft, is a center back. Eric Schoenle is another top prospect, but he's also a center back. Past that, the defensive options are sparse and their mock draft doesn't have an outside guy going until pick No. 19. Teams always routinely 'reach' in the MLS Draft, but the last thing the Rapids want to do is gamble in an incredibly important year with their No. 6 pick.
So the team might as well go with the next best thing, a top center back that they can use for spot starts, which could come in handy if Oscar Pareja decides that Drew Moor needs to be a right back or left back for a game or two.
If you've been hearing my inane ramblings on the Thugcast this year, you already know that I'm intrigued by one particular guy, Senegalese forward Mamadou Doudou Diouf of UCONN.
But then, knowing how well Mock Drafts and stocks seem to rise and fall, the guy might end up being a top 10 guy by the time January hits.
There are plenty of solid right backs who will probably be around in the second round, and whoever they pick will probably get a full season to learn the tricks of the trade without being foisted into 2000 minutes of playing time. (I'm assuming that the Rapids pick up someone else to either back up or usurp Freeman as the starter, because it would be absolutely clownshoes if they didn't.) It's the old 'draft a quarterback and groom him for league play for a year' analogy from handegg. And if he doesn't work out? Well, just a second round pick. You can find RB depth elsewhere, as sad as it would be.
Of course, with the sixth and 11th picks so close together, those two could be flipped if they saw a 'must have' guy five picks earlier at right back.
What positions do you want to see the Rapids focus on in the 2013 Draft?
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