nope...totally disagree...climbed a bunch at the creek on small tcu's...never slung them, just used as was with the tape they came with...never had a problem...
yer theory might work in flares or cracks that open to the inside, but that particular route is completely parallel...the dude just flat out used the wrong size pieces, period...gri gri had nothing to do with it, and neither did your "theory"...shoot, the piece was at his knee when he cut off...
your theory would require climbing that route with 10 or more pieces all with long slings for each one...hmmm, never seen that done before there...