X, J, or 308?

I passed on a set of 587's from a 340 for $50 cause I read that they didn't have much potential. Was that a bad move?

Yes, since, in general, all small blocks heads for the 340/360 have the same ports with minor differences that are very small,. They will all flow within a few cfm of each other after the basic porting mods are done.

The 1.88 valve helps with air velocity which results in a better throttle response and possible mileage gains on stock engines or very mild cam changes.

The 2.02 is best suited to higher rpm useage. The difference in valves, performance wise is small. Like you mentioned, it is in the combonation of the build.