That certainly is an apologist view of the situation. The likely scenario is the simplest one. We drafted a guy we knew we could sign cheap and who we liked well enough. We did this to try to snag one or two of the elite talents that often fall in the draft. We traded for another pick to help this plan.
This year we don't have anyone who fell.
We took a risk by drafting Anderson and hoping someone fell. The risk didn't pay off. It sucks. It's not a risk I take with the third pick but one o can at least understand.
I honestly think these things are often far less set in the minds of FO people than they are for fans. Meaning, I truly believe that most of the time a FO makes decisions they think are the best with several scenarios in mind, and if their ideal scenario doesn't happen, they don't worry too much, they just move onto the next one...especially in baseball. I don't think the Braves decided to forego a top 5 talent so they could try to get one later. I think they really like Anderson, saw an opportunity to take him for less than slot, and gave themselves flexibility later.
They will almost certainly use that flexibility somehow. It may not be in the way they ideally envisioned, but I can assure you they're not panicking. They knew everything that's happened was a possibility.
I don't think their belief in Anderson at 3 was contingent on getting one of a few players at 40 or 44.