Man, I would look at it rather differently.
Comparison to last year's (or any other year's) draft quality has nothing to do with what we're talking about here. That comparison to last year only has relevance to the overall decision to tank (which was made long ago, and nobody expects us to go back on now).
The stakes I'm referring to have to do with the difference that a win now and then (at approximately the rate we've been collecting them this season) will make. Those marginal wins (unless we suddenly change our patterns of winning -- which again, no one anticipates) make close to absolutely zero difference for whether we get Flagg, Bailey, Harper, or Edgecombe (assuming these are the top 4). At most they make a difference in regard to whether we get our choice of Kasparas, Fears, or Tre Johnson (or whoever else you think are top 5-7). (I guess this is something of a reward, but hardly anything to get all hot and bothered about, in my mind).
We have people acting as if "the stakes" are that getting a win once in a while is going to prevent us from getting Flagg (or Harper, or Bailey, or Edgecombe). But this is just not true. At this point, it's just the uncontrollable way that the odds play out that will prevent us from getting those top picks. We already have the top odds for those guys. It's very unlikely that we drop in more than very marginal ways from those top odds, even if we don't shut Lauri down for the rest of the year.