At least in the mid 70's when I ran my stocker - going through tech in 1975 at Englishtown - they checked lift, duration and overlap.

NHRA Tech used a degree wheel on the damper and tape around the damper to mark the opening and closing events.

Yes they were called cheater cams back then - why I don't know because they checked all the specs. Today they only care about lift.

I'm guessing the lobe had a fast acceleration ramp so at any point between the base circle and toe you had more valve opening but never exceeding max lift - so you were cheating compared to the standard cam rate.

Maybe you can clarify what you are actually trying to achieve - are you limited to some specification and if so why? There are a bunch of cams to choose from - why are you trying determine the trade offs - not being critical - just wondering why.