Would they have had a superstar and 3 stars, which is what you need to win, right now along with cap flexibility without going through that process? Doubtful.
Part of the problem with the whole evaluation, though, is that they short-circuited what Hinkie was going for (rightly or wrongly), brought in the tweeting clown, then ramped things up with Brand. It's not like the whole "process" has been that clean.
They really had very little path to success where they were 6 years ago. Is it possible that they could have gotten someone like Masai who could really build a team up without high picks? Maybe (though those guys don't grow on trees and who knows why they realistically could have gotten). But figuring out these counterfactuals is so fraught, if not impossible, so in the end I think that the main point is that the tanking certainly resulted in a net benefit.