and won't have a selection until the second round when this year's SuperDraft takes place in Baltimore next week. But that doesn't mean the club has changed its approach to the league's annual entry draft.
By Jeff Agoos' estimations, he's spent the past 12 months trying to identify talented college players and the newly named Red Bulls sporting director figures there's about 20-30 players on his watch list.
And with the Red Bulls having to give up their first-round pick (No. 7 overall) to the Chicago Fire as compensation for hiring Juan Carlos Osorio as head coach, New York has just three picks, the highest being at No. 16.
Agoos said little has changed in terms of the type of players the Red Bulls identified, especially among college players, when Osorio was hired.
"We put a program together to really take a look at a lot of different players," said Agoos, who initially was identifying talent as the team's technical director. "That was in full swing and that did not change. We felt pretty good about what we've done and the way we've looked at players. In terms of the foreign players is really where it was more affected than anywhere."
So while it's impossible to know if, say, quality defenders like Connecticut's Julius James or Julian Valentin from Wake Forest will be available when the Red Bulls have their first selection in the second round, Agoos said he's got an idea of what he's looking for in a potential draft pick.
"We're looking for someone who is driven, someone who is professional, innovative, is a team guy," Agoos said. "Obviously we're looking for someone who is humble, who understands what it takes, self-confident is another quality we're looking for, decisive. We're looking for people who understand what the vision is, who want to be winners and are good people."
In an ideal world, Agoos would have a solid overall picture of a potential draft pick, even before they attend this weekend's adidas MLS Player Combine. But individual workouts and interviews, as is the norm in the NBA and NHL, aren't always practical in MLS.
"Sometimes there are not real precise ways to measure things. Sometimes you have to go with a feel," Agoos said. "Sometimes you have to do some background. We hope in the future we put together a plan that we have as much knowledge of the players and the personalities that we can."
And a lot of times, an intangible is what separates one player from another when a team is preparing to make a selection.
"There's the kids where you see there's some future potential and you try to harvest that, try to develop that," Agoos said. "That's where understanding who the kid is and understanding what he's all about becomes important. You can have two kids who are of equal talent and maybe one is more driven than the other. It may affect your choice."
Agoos said the strength of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft is its defenders, which is particularly good for the Red Bulls considering its one of the team's biggest needs heading into the upcoming season.
"I think we can improve in every position, defensively especially, but we can become a much deeper team and that's what we need," said Agoos. "It's one of the issues we have in our team."
As he analyzes this year's draft class and is preparing for the Combine, Agoos said there's not many immediate impact players -- "somewhere between zero and five."
"I don't think there's a whole lot of kids that are really going to step in and make an impact like a Dane Richards or a Maurice Edu," he said. "You just don't see it year after year."
After picking in the second round, the Red Bulls have a third-round selection (No. 32 overall) and a fourth-round pick (No. 44 overall). But if there's any question about the possibility of an immediate impact player being available when the Red Bulls are on the board, Agoos is quick to rewind to last year's draft when New York picked Richards No. 19 overall.
"I definitely think that there are kids who, in the second round, can come in and make an impact," Agoos said. "There's enough players in this draft that can make an impact over the long term in MLS."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
