You hear that refrain a lot; so I thought some background analysis of recent title winners and teams that fell just short might be worth a try.
I looked at the number of fairly major and minor moves the last five (first time) title-winners made in the two years before the victory (draft, free agents, trades). I found they made almost 17 total moves, 8 of which I quickly and loosely called fairly major (had some impact, played 15+ minutes per game or so). So the teams that win titles make a lot of moves in the two years before the title.
Then I looked at OKC, Orlando and Cleveland (last three teams to get to finals but not win a title, yet). They made an average of about 14 moves, only 6 of which were fairly major. So the teams that fell short made fewer moves and fewer fairly major moves than the title-winners. But they still made a lot of moves. So there is not a good basis for saying they were standing pat, showing simple patience. They made moves. But maybe not enough and enough major ones.
Presti, is tied (for last 2 yrs) with Ferry and Kupchak for fewest major moves but nearly made as many minor moves as the titlewinners.
Have patience, we're good enough to win title wo big change?
Re: Have patience, we're good enough?
After some feedback elsewhere and some further thinking prompted by the roster minutes, it might be good to redo this focused on moves affecting the top 6-7 guys and maybe weighting the score by player quality and minutes (using warp or another metric).