At the time the Kings acquired both those players, the consensus was that the Kings were buying low.  In Williams' case, a former #2 pick hadn't been living up to expectations and for Rudy, his contract combined with his terrible shooting in Toronto made him seem irredeemable in the eyes of many.  In his article on the trade, Grantland's Zach Lowe shared this on Gay: "I know GMs who say they wouldn't touch him now in free agency for the midlevel exception".

The narrative has now changed from one of hope to one of redemption.  Rudy Gay and Derrick Williams have not yet been in Sacramento a full season, but they both are thriving in their new home.  Gay, no longer forced to be the go-to man, has flipped the script upside down and become one of the most efficient players in the NBA.  Williams meanwhile has embraced the freedom Michael Malone has given him.

Malone has also been using Gay and Williams in big lineups together.  In both the Portland and Orlando games, Sacramento has run a lineup of Isaiah, Gay, Williams, Thompson, and Cousins for significant stretches.  According to NBA.com's lineup data, that lineup has shot 59.1% over the last two games and has a +/- of 25.8 per 100 possessions.  Obviously that's a small sample size, but it's a lineup that I expect we'll see more often as the season progresses.

Gay and Williams seem to be integral parts of this team going forward.  As Kings fans, we've been waiting for years for our GM to turn nickels and dimes into quarters rather than the other way around and Pete D'Alessandro has found a way to do that with both of these last two trades.  It's too early to say whether or not Gay and Williams are part of this team's long-term plans, but I think it's safe to say that so far, it's been mutually beneficial.

Random Observations: