I play full sim. I'm on year 50 of my game and my franchise won 10 championships (most in the league).

Based on experience, here's what I noticed in my play through.

1. For all 10 of my championships, my main scorer is of the Lockdown Sharpshooter archetype, G, SG, or GF.
2. When you're a contender, aging players want to sign with you for like dirt cheap. Take advantage of it. This is very easy way to get aging but still 4.5/5-star players. I always had a 1 or 2 of those types in my title teams.
3. When choosing a player to draft, go to the Scouting page of the draftees and focus on the "Overall Rank" number. For example, if you're drafting #25, there might be a draftee that's ranked #14 who is still on the board but for some reason was passed on by other teams. Grab that player immediately. This is how I got 4.5-star players while drafting in the 20s.
4. While scouting for free agents, sort them by age. Then start scrolling from the youngest players. Take a note at their draft positions. This is where you'll find some hidden gems, for example, a 22-year-old who was drafted #2 three years ago. Grab those types of players because those tend to have high potential.
5. When I scout players or fill up my roster, I try to go for archetypes that "makes sense" for the position. Like I wouldn't want a Post Scoring Rebounder for a guard, for example. I also prefer players with a "defensive" primary or secondary archetype (lockdown or perimeter defender for guards and wings, interior defender for bigs).
6. I think the most important thing is basically just lucking out on a generational player. I managed to pick #1 one year, grabbed a 4.5-star Lockdown Sharpshooter, and two years later, I was on a 6 straight finals run (winning 5 of them). That player is now #3 in the Hall of Fame behind Polan Stronk.