No, I think Burke changed his philosophy after the Kessel blunder. In 2012 when they drafted Reilly he was rebuilding.
I think the confusion arises (imho) more so with the concepts of "tanking" versus "rebuilding". We've been rebuilding for quite some time. The tank didn't occur until the year before the Matthews draft.
Rebuilding isn't defined by a teams performance (not even sustained poor performance).
Rebuilding is a choice that has to be actively executed by management (regardless of a teams performance). A good team can choose to re-build & a bad team can choose not to rebuild.
To be defined as a rebuild, management has to execute trades or strategic decisions that make their team (or core) younger. Otherwise they're not rebuilding, even if they come in last & get a high draft pick.
How many examples of these moves can you provide? (when Burke was with the Leafs)
Trading Kaberle in his UFA year (rather than trying to re-sign him) is an example. But their arn't nearly enough examples (or significant enough examples) to constitute a rebuild in the Burke era. Drafting Rielly is an example of poor performance, not an example of a rebuild.
If Rielly was drafted during a rebuild, what moves did Burke make to rebuild that year?