Your theory is correct and more than that;
By sizing the timber down you are lowering the stresses that build as it dries. Less tangent grain in full strength pulling around the shell. The cells in a growth ring are trying to shrink twice as much around their circle as they are in their radial or heart to bark direction. By making the timber smaller you lower the stresses. You're also interrupting more of the tangential grain. Nothing wrong with going oversize and trimming later if you have the time. The timber stacks better for handling and drying. Usually the major check forms along rays on the shortest path from heart to bark. The check forms when the tension perdendicular to grain stresses exceed the strength of the wood.

There is no advantage to having a tree laying around. Leaving any bark on, even a board edge, here is like ringing the dinner bell. I keep a drawknife at the back of the mill.