These arguments are so silly. What model does everybody think all the other non-contending teams are trying to follow? You try to draft the best players, make smart trades, and use FA to fill in the holes. As many have said, the "OKC Model" is not some sort of secret formula pioneered by Presti, nor have the Thunder won a sausage to this point (or done anything the Lebron Cavs did not). You think other GMs don't want to draft the best players available at their draft positions? And really, in the draft that turned it all around for the Thunder, they even "missed" on the second pick - what if they had had the Celtics draft Noah for them instead of Jeff Green?
Skill and luck, just like everything else. Big/destination markets seem to need less luck because the allure of the franchise acts as a bit of a safety net. But either way you have to have an owner willing to spend, a GM with an eye for talent in the draft, a solid vision of how the talent should fit together, and the foresight to put the team in a position to take advantage of opportunities in the future, and the luck that only a fraction of the billions of things that can go wrong actually do go wrong. The specifics of the "model" change based on circumstance. Ainge's decision to trade his team to put together the Boston big 3, along with a nice pick in Rondo, both requiring an enormous amount of luck, got them to the promised land and Boston has had fun watching basketball since then even in the years when the team came up short. Yet San Anton went the complete opposite direction, incredibly lucky circumstances giving them the opportunity to draft one of the best big men the league has ever seen just before their former superstar big man's star faded, then skillfully picking and luckily succeeding in finding great international talent. How bout the Lakers? Or the Heat? What models are those?
Make sound decisions, take advantage of opportunities to get better when they arise. I hope the Cavs continue to gather assets to be able to make moves to get better. As a bad team, I hope they keep trying to get as many high picks in the draft as possible. I hope we get awesome players with those picks. And I hope Grant has a vision and makes smart decisions--based on specific opportunities available to him--to get over the hump to actually win it all. What model is that? And are any teams following some different model?