1) The Sacramento Kings have made exactly one notable free agent acquisition over the last twenty years: Vlade Divac. Every other good player, we either traded for or drafted. Sacramento is just not a significant free agent destination. That's always been true, will always be true. You can offer big name players a ton of money, but they don't sign in Sacramento. We didn't have a shot at the 2010 free agent class.
2) In reality, rebuilds almost always include good drafting. Orlando, OKC, Portland, etc., their cornerstones are all draft picks. Even teams that do sign free agents or make huge trades have draft picks as their cornerstone players: Chicago, Miami, Lakers, Spurs, Mavs, Suns, etc. It's only rarely that a team builds a contender primarily through free agency.
3) The reason we traded those players without getting much in return is because they were overpaid -- by us. We wanted Miller, so we gave him a sign and trade deal that no one else would. We gave Bibby $80 million, when no one else would. Kevin Martin's $50 million that he wasn't earning, and we had to push him off as well. These players are not foundational players, but were making foundational player money. You can't be a good team if you're paying those three guys a total of $40 million a year. And you can't get great players back for them, either.