Miami won the rights to U.S. youth national team midfielder Kyle Beckerman in a weighted lottery conducted today by MLS. Beckerman, a Project-40 player, was the only player available in the June
29 draft. The draft held true to form as the Fusion held the highest probability for selection. The MetroStars, New England Revolution and Columbus Crew were ineligible for the draft, as each had
been previously assigned a player via the lottery. Additionally, D.C. United elected not to participate in today's proceedings. The weighted order of the draft was as follows. 1. Miami Fusion
-- selected Kyle Beckerman (U.S. Pro-40) 2. Colorado Rapids 3. San Jose 4. Tampa Bay 5. Kansas City 6. Dallas 7. Chicago 8. Los Angeles It
is not yet known whether Beckerman, who signed with Project-40 on Tuesday, will join the Fusion this weekend, or meet up with Pro-40, as it concludes a three-game trip in the Midwest. Currently a
member of the U.S. under-20 national team, Beckerman tallied 10 goals for the U-17's in 1999. In two years with the U-17's, Beckerman made 40 appearances, tallying 15 goals while playing primarily as
an attacking midfielder. In 1999, Beckerman was also the only field player to appear in all 19 of the team's full international contests. The lottery draft is the mechanism used to place players
signed after the 2000 MLS SuperDraft, and who are not assigned to an MLS team via one of the league's other mechanisms (e.g. discovery option, allocation, or the waiver draft). Participation in the
MLS lottery system, which was adopted in November, 1999, is voluntary at the discretion of each team. In the event that a team participates in the lottery system and is assigned a player, it will not
be entitled to participate in any future lottery during that calendar year until all teams have been allocated a player via the lottery system.
