Real Salt Lake draft ready

A year ago this time, there wasn't much drama for Real Salt Lake coach John Ellinger at the MLS SuperDraft combine in California. He'd already decided that RSL would draft 16-year-old Nicolas Besagno with the No. 1 pick, therefore the combine became more of a proving ground for the second through fourth rounds.

There's much more uncertainty at the combine this year.

While every MLS coach would love to select Marvell Wynne with the No. 1 pick in the draft on Jan. 20, that delightful experience is reserved for CD Chivas USA.

"Obviously everyone anticipates that Marvell Wynne will be the first player picked," said Ellinger. "For sure he's the best athlete that's probably been in the draft in a while. Now it's just a matter of if that's how (Chivas coach) Bob Bradley is thinking."

All of the other 73 invitees at the combine at the Home Depot Center this weekend become potential picks for RSL at No. 2.

Unlike last year, Ellinger has no idea which direction his team will go.

"Our logic by the end of this week, is to try in our minds to figure out who the best forward is, who the best defender is, who the best attacking midfielder is, who the best wide midfielder is, those kinds of things, and then assess our needs as to which way we want to go," said Ellinger.

Making the situation a bit precarious is the reality that those needs could change before the draft.

RSL still has an allocation at its disposal for missing the playoffs last year, and if an opportunity presents itself in the next week, that may change the direction RSL is heading.

Either way, Ellinger said the team is almost assuredly going to take one of the 11 Generation adidas players available in the draft. RSL's only other pick in the four-round draft is in the third round.

Aside for a handful of college seniors, the Generation adidas youngsters are generally regarded as the most talented in the draft, and because of their young age, they can be placed on a team's development roster instead of the senior roster.

Last year RSL drafted Besagno and Jamie Watson with its first two picks, both Generation adidas players. In the offseason, the team also acquired Christian Jimenez, another Generation adidas player, in the Brian Dunseth trade.

"We're in a different situation than we were last year, but our first pick will probably be a Generation adidas player," said Ellinger.