No, I know what you were trying to say, and it's a very commonly-held belief, I'm just saying it's not that simple and I'm really wishing I had the engineering background to explain myself better.
But I'll try again. Just because a tire locks due to the braking force being applied to it does not mean the tire was incapable of accepting a higher braking force prior to the point of locking if the brakes were indeed capable of generating that force WITHOUT locking. I know and understand that this is counterintuitive to those who believe that tire traction is what it is and no more braking can be put through it if it's locking anyway, but such is not universally the case.
Matter of fact, think of it this way: It's not the brakes putting forces through the tires, it's the tires putting force through the brakes. Nearly any braking system is capable flashing over to complete lockup and overwhelming the tire but a better braking system allows a higher level of torque to be managed before going to complete lockup.
Put simply, a braking system can force a lockup BEFORE it's taken advantage of all the tire had to offer, and this is where a larger, higher-torque rotor and good pad come into play.
