People love high-statted lions. Nowadays, 1000+ is considered high stats (depending on the person, even 700+). As a new player on lioden with only about 64-100 stats, this may seem difficult, but if you put the time and effort into it, it really pays off. Here is my strategy for raising the stat count of your pride:

-----Try to buy lionesses instead of claiming ncls (newly claimed lionesses)-----
They always have super low stats and you can find cubs/lionesses with 200+ stats in the trade center for pretty low prices. It's up to you if you want to do this step, but it helps the process go much faster.
-----Look for studs from other prides-----
If you're new, I understand if you want to breed your own lionesses. However, If you want to raise the stats of your future pride, you want to find studs that have higher stats than you; otherwise you will just keep breeding low stat cubs because the stats of the cub will more often than not have lower stats than both of the parents. I recommend searching for -active- studs that have really high stats for a low stud price. By really high, I mean 2000+ stats. By using the search function on explore, I regularly breed my lionesses to studs with 3000+ stats for only around 300-500sb. By continuously doing this, the stats of your lions will get higher with every generation born. Be sure to look for deals. Some studs offer free future studdings if you pay GB or a certain item.
----Set a minimum stat requirement-----
By doing this, you focus only on cubs that have higher stats than the lions before it. This usually means getting rid of cubs that have the lowest stats in the litter and keeping the ones with higher stats.
-----Breed the lionesses with the highest stats-----
This means finding the lioness(es) with the most stats in your pride and only breeding them. The rest can be made into broodmothers or hunters, but don't breed them. You would just be setting yourself back. This goes hand-in-hand with step 2, breed the lionesses with the most stats with a high stat stud.
-----Raise your own stats-----
This is important because you will no longer need to breed to external prides if your own stats are high enough. This means continuously playing baoball, exploring, and using stat raising items (egg yolk, coconut, etc.)
-----Choose high stat heirs-----
If you can, I recommend buying a male cub that has higher stats than you. Wait until you have reached a somewhat old age, but not too old where you'll die before he grows up. (12-13 years). By then you have usually earned the most stats you will earn on that king before he dies and you can buy a male cub/adol/lion that has higher stats than you. Make sure you bought submale slots for your den. If you have the GB, you can somewhat skip this step and retire early. Make sure you have your chosen heir though.
-----Train your heir-----
This means using stat items on him and patrolling. Try to train him as much as you can before you retire.