An easy test that I do is to bolt on the cam gear, spray the cam with WD-40 and slide the cam in, mark the top edge of the lifters with a dab of yellow paint, spray with WD and drop them in the bores. Smooth and continuously turn the cam gear by hand and watch the lifters. It works. They will spin.....well, they should! Then you can go from there assembling and checking further including marking the pushrods watching for spinning with the valve covers off when turning over the engine and when running.
