I have experienced this here. Trees in the growing beds were trimmed quite late - (April?). The resulting new growth kept leaves on all winter but spring growth was no different to usual so I don't think 'weak buds' will be a problem.Trees that were cut back or defoliated recently are still growing strong.
However I do not think this applies to removing sacrifice branches. Just removing 1 low branch makes very little difference to the growth on the rest of the tree.
Always worth trying something to see what results in your climate under your conditions.I do have one that I can cut back to see how it reacts in my conditions."
