Kevin Pritchard looked beat. Nate McMillan did too. As they strolled to the podium at the practice facility, you could just tell the entire draft process – a full year of it in many cases, the past few weeks in others – had taken its toll.

So when I had the chance to talk with Nate after his ‘Q and A’ alongside Pritchard about their draft selections (suspect to say the least), my first question was an obvious one: how spent are you?

“It’s been a long couple of days,” McMillan said. “I found myself not sleeping the last few days – you know, waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning and just going and going to bed late and just thinking about scenarios and what we want to do.”

These guys have been on the grind. Nonstop: breathing, eating and sleeping – or not sleeping in Nate’s case – this draft. To this I can only say, join the club.

While I’ll let the story I did for HOOPSWORLD (“Did Portland Get Better?”) detail the scene moving forward now that the 2009 NBA Draft is in the books and free agency is the focus, let me quickly flashback to some predictions.

As many of us guessed, Sergio Rodriguez’s tenure in Portland came to a close Thursday night. According to a couple folks in the know, Portland basically was giving him away in a hurry. Like Pritchard mentioned a couple times, “it was his time”. Better off for both sides in my opinion.

Travis Outlaw stayed put. But for how long?

The Blazers – as darned as they tried – just couldn’t move up to get Tyler Hansbrough. Perhaps it’s best. Tyler is many things, but a veteran with seasoned experience isn’t one of them. And that truly is a pressing need for Portland right now and everyone in management knows it. Look for Pritchard to solve that problem right off the bat once free agency rolls around.

Thought for sure the Blazers would move more of their second round picks, and 22nd overall as well. Just didn’t happen.

Sit tight this summer. Free agency is on the way. A word of caution though: be leery about some of the rumors you may hear and don’t get suckered into all the magic tricks. It’s a long offseason. Real long. You are going to hear it all.

By the way, this draft was simply a weak class all the way around. Asked McMillan and Pritchard if they felt the same. Nate said it depended on what a team needed. Pritchard said it was too early to tell. Deep down they knew the truth.

Here’s the deal though – this whole draft process and selection really is about what the scouts want. I really believe that. Pritchard will make the final vote. But McMillan really doesn’t have as much say as some may think. Sure, he offers his opinion and insight. But do I think he was stoked to sign off on picking Victor Claver in the first round?

Even if this kid worked out for Portland last year, that’s still a hard sell for me.

Nate said he trusts the scouts. Said he respects their work. But somewhere along the applause, I’m guessing drafting another young kid who you are going to stash overseas for a couple of years wasn’t on the top of McMillan’s list.

No wonder the guy has been losing sleep.

pic via: o-live/ the one and only bruce ely

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