Catching up with VP of soccer ops Greg Anderson ahead of Thursday's MLS SuperDraft

With the 2015 MLS SuperDraft just around the corner, whitecapsfc.com caught up with vice president of soccer operations Greg Anderson this morning to get an update on the club’s preparations. Anderson spent the last few days at the MLS Player Combine in Florida with the rest of the technical staff.

How did things go at the MLS Player Combine over the last few days?
“It’s been very productive. Obviously, watching the games and assessing the prospects that are here but also meeting with other clubs and having our staff all together and meeting about different things, it’s been great. It’s been a very productive trip.”

How much can the combine change your view on a player?
“Well, I think you have to trust the scouting you’ve done before the combine, but you can use the combine to confirm your opinions. It gives you a chance to meet with the players, but it can also raise the stock of some players if they have a very strong combine and you learn some more about them. But you do have to balance what you know from your pre-scouting with what you learn at the combine because there could be lots of variables at play … varying degrees of fitness, the guys haven’t necessarily played games for a while, they’re playing with new players, so you have to take all of that into consideration when you make an assessment of a player at the combine.”

Did the combine make your list longer or shorter? Make it easier or tougher?
“I would say a bit of both. It reinforced our opinion on some players and made us look a little harder at some others. We’re all going to regroup now and refine our list and finalize our strategy for Thursday.”

What did you look for in your interviews with the players?
“The most important thing is to see if you can get a sense of what the character is like. We’ll talk to people who know them from outside but it’s our opportunity, if we haven’t met the player, to really understand what motivates them and how we think they would fit into our club and our system.”

How would you rate the strength of this year’s draft class?
"I think every year people say it’s weaker than the previous year, but I’m not sure that’s the case this year. Traditionally, the first day of the combine players struggle a little bit but they get better as the week goes on. There are certainly good players within there. The trick is just to identify which ones they are. There are certainly some good players in this year’s draft."

Do you think there will be enough talent available when it comes to your pick (13th overall)?
“What we have to do is be confident in our list … I think there are certainly enough good players in this draft that we’ll get a good one at 13. We’ll just make our list and hopefully one of the players we really value is available when we make our selection.”

Is the club open to potentially trading up or down?
“It’s a possibility. We’ve been talking with all the clubs as the week’s gone along to see where they’re at and who values what pick. We’re open to it and I’m sure there will be lots of conversations between now and draft day … it’s been a little bit quieter for us this year because we’ve traditionally had higher picks but it usually picks up over the next few evenings once the teams get to Philly.”

The 2015 MLS SuperDraft will be streamed live on whitecapsfc.com on Thursday, January 15 at 9:30 a.m. PT. Stay tuned for updates leading up to and during the draft. 

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