Your post really got me tinking tbh. So I wenat haead and tried both ways. The issue I saw with motion paths was that you will really need to play about with the keys and timing to make it look real. THis may take a little more time to do, but will geive a good bedding in Keyframe animation and the use of motion paths.

I then tried it with active and rigid body dynamics, and got pretty good results, but has issues with the friction. But once that was sorted then I would say its far better and more realistic to use it in that manner and will ave a lot of work in the long run. Although it will take sometime to set up and will require mre testing, than motion paths.