I'm not sure the Kings got better on the day of the 2011 NBA Draft.

Regardless, taken alone, Jimmer improves the team. But we can't take it alone because of what Sacramento did to justify taking Jimmer.

The Kings made the trade to clear the point guard decks for the pick, Jimmer. In doing so, the Kings added $10 million of salary for an older, worse player. They traded down, and the roster situation got worse. That doesn't happen. That's not supposed to happen.

Beno is better than Salmons. Salmons' best season resulted in 7.1 Win Shares. Beno had 7.2 on a 24-win team last season. Salmons has one season above 0.1 Win Shares per 48 minutes. Beno has four. Salmons' career PER is 13.1. Beno's is 14.1. And Beno is cheaper, younger and plays a more important/less replaceable position.

John Salmons is not a $10 million upgrade over Beno Udrih. No one can convince me of this.

Instead of justifying the pick the Kings wanted to make, they used the pick to justify a bad trade. Plenty of folks around the nation and world would have laughed or grimaced if the Kings took Jimmer over Knight and Walker at No. 7. The Kings would be the No. 1 story this morning, and most of the reaction would have been negative. But the result — Jimmer, no Salmons — would have been better for the team. We can deal with ridicule. A team actively getting worse on draft day? Tougher to swallow.

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Don't take this as disappointment in Fredette or the Fredette choice. I'm excited to see what he can do. How this went down is driving me absolutely crazy, though.