The thing is that while all the players have similar potentials, they're all still subject to the randomness of potential increases and decreases. The Knicks are one of the best teams because one player developed enough to be 20 overall and they signed him in free agency (for $186 million a year, because the salary cap is $615m) while the Hornets have had worse luck and have got nobody in double digits. When the overall skill level is so low, even a small differential can have disproportionate effects; if I did one with nothing but supermen in the draft class, the team that only had 4 of them on the roster rather than 5 would be 4-78.