The Draft of Dreams
A joint article written by the co-hosts of Keeping Tabs Podcast
Twitter: @KeepingTabsPod - Ran by Colin and Luke
11:30 PM | 2/5/2021
A while back, sometime before the new year, we floated the idea of the Dynamo
acquiring a young CB through the draft. We were betting against the odds given all the years of terrible drafting decisions led by our GM, Matt Jordan. Flash forward a couple
months and the Dynamo have done just that. The Dynamo didn’t fumble the ball with this one. No, they aced it.
Sitting with the third overall pick in this year’s Superdraft, the odds were in our favor to draft Ethan Bartlow, the 20 year old dynamic CB out of Washington. For those who don’t know, he was highly regarded as the top defender out of this year's draft. Houston surely had this one in the bag, right? Then things started getting “shifty”…
Houston announced early that morning a draft trade with the Colorado Rapids making the Dynamo the 6th pick instead of the third. Houston acquired roughly $200,000 in allocation money from the Rapids and immediately sent that money over to Nashville for young American midfielder Derrick Jones (23). “Not too shabby so far from the Dynamo”, I had initially thought to myself. The acquisition of Jones filled the void in midfield depth and added a hardworking player on the roster. However, the job was far from finished.
Sitting in the middle of class with all computer sounds muted, I sat in agony while I waited for the 6th pick. Then it came. Head coach Tab Ramos talked for a few seconds and then the screen showed a video clip of a penalty being scored. I was pretty sad at first, thinking we surely didn’t draft Bartlow. Then, his name was, as clear as day: “ETHAN BARTLOW”.
It seemed like the Dynamo were playing chess while everybody else was playing checkers. Before the draft, it seemed set in stone for the Dynamo to sit tight and pick the best defender in this class, Ethan Bartlow. Instead Houston was able to pick up Derrick Jones and still walk away with their original preferred draftee.
What seemed to happen in my eyes is Houston was uninterested in the top 3 offensive
prospects (Mayaka, Perriera, Harris) and so they decided to get some value for their high draft
spot. According to the post draft press conference, coach Tab Ramos and Matt Jordan had
been interested in Derrick Jones for a while, but the timing had simply never been right. So,
with the draft day trade, the Dynamo were able to bring in a young, "highish" ceiling CDM that has
worked with Tab in the past by moving down three spots and still drafting the guy they wanted
all along. Bartlow is a guy we can get excited about as well. He’s a pro-ready, Generation
Adidas, American CB. He’s left footed, perfect to pair with Tim Parker. The Dynamo are hoping
to have both center back spots figured out for the next 3-4 seasons.
Now was this really Matt Jordan’s doing or did Tab orchestrate this masterpiece? Honestly, we at Keeping Tabs don’t really care. We stamp a collective A on this assignment Houston completed. A job well done. Ethan Bartlow will be a guy that the whole league should keep an eye on...
As always, it’s been a pleasure. Never forget to keep tabs.
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