There is no one path to improvement in the NBA from what I can see. Obviously there is a fair bit of luck involved but we've seen a variety of paths to true contention. The big question is how much of a swing ownership wants to take because a miss could put you into real purgatory (I would argue that fans of teams like Houston or New Orleans are deeper in purgatory but it doesnt matter) for a longer time.
That said, its hard to believe that a creative mind with backing of ownership (i.e. willingness to spend) couldn't up-tier the talent on this roster a bit with a few moves. They have draft capital, they have a combination of flawed young players who might be worth a flier plus veteran contracts/skillsets in Smart, Horford and Richardson who may be attractive to teams being forced to make moves. None of that makes them a contender but there are other scenarios at play besides run it back or get lucky.
That said, its hard to believe that a creative mind with backing of ownership (i.e. willingness to spend) couldn't up-tier the talent on this roster a bit with a few moves. They have draft capital, they have a combination of flawed young players who might be worth a flier plus veteran contracts/skillsets in Smart, Horford and Richardson who may be attractive to teams being forced to make moves. None of that makes them a contender but there are other scenarios at play besides run it back or get lucky.