As one of the biggest Beno defenders on KFs, I'll post my thanks to him as observations and predictions:
The Kings are going to sorely miss his clutch FT shooting - he was the ONLY King you could count on to drain the desperately-needed FT's, and he won quite a few games just last season because of it (and many other games were lost because other Kings shot the FTs).
Beno's pull-up J HAS to be about 75% accurate - that HAS to be the best pull-up jumper in the entire NBA (can anybody think of anyone who makes a better %?).
Beno was inarguably the most consistent King.
Getting rid of the most consistent player, who always showed up and was ready when on the court, when the team is horribly inconsistent and lost tons of games because of it, is a huge mistake that may bite the organization in the butt.
When the Kings were flailing on the court and desperately needed a basket, I personally saw tons of times this year that it was Beno that saw the opening and made the play (whether it be a drive and bucket or a drive-and-dish or a pull-up J).
He was one of the few stabilizing factors on a team that is barely holding together. Between the immaturity of Tyreke and DMC, and the boneheadedness of Westphal, getting rid of a glue guy might be quite damaging next year.
After watching all season long because people were hyper-critical of him, I believe Beno's defense was consistently better than perceived. He had many multi-steal games and regularly broke up plays but didn't get credited for a steal. If anyone thinks Jimmer is going to be able to defend any better against these NBA PG's, they're going to get a rude awakening.
Blaming Beno for the inability of a team to stop opposing PG's always showed the fanbase's ignorance, IMO.
PG's CAN NOT BE STOPPED in the NBA - you see it all over the league, every single night. There's a reason why almost every other team (except the Kings) runs the pick and roll 20 times a night - because it's so hard to defend. Blaming Beno for somehow not being able to teleport through the screen always was absurd to me. Once the screen happens, it's the OTHER player who has to make the adjustment and allow the guard the extra moment to get around the screen and back in front of his man - and the Kings players were woefully incapable of that.
But the fanbase blamed Beno for that.
Further, Beno got around his man just as much (if not more) than his guy did. And that's without the help of pick-and-rolls.
Beno was a professional. He always showed up to play, had the right attitude, and would actually RUN the plays the coach drew up (unlike many other Kings). He was usually not involved in the catastrophic meltdowns that cost so many games last year - it was another King who botched the play.
Further, he called out the organization when it was full of **** - this was and is a VITAL quality of a veteran player.
When Westphal was being a complete dunderhead and losing the player's confidence, Beno stepped up and said what needed to be said, and took his lumps for it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons he was traded - I don't think the organization appreciates being accurately called out when they are sucking.
Beno was always supportive of his teammates, with his play and from the bench. He set up countless Kings to succeed on the court, not that many of them took advantage of it.
He effortlessly morphed his game from running the offense and being one of the primary guys in it, to a back-up role who would pick and choose his spots to drive to the basket (with the highest completion % of anyone on the team IMO) or pull up for a pull-up J (high %). That kind of game-change is not easy and not many players could do it - this shows his skill, and I doubt if John Salmons has the capability to change his game to accommodate other players the way that Beno proved.
That is the main reason why I think this trade is going to prove to be a bad one in the end.
It's not just anyone that can fit in with the odd group of players the Kings have (especially Tyreke), and Beno proved he could. Getting rid of him for someone who has proven that he CAN'T do it is a big mistake in my eyes.