I don't mind an upfront premine as long as the release is fair for everyone. It's better than stating 0% premine and then instamining all the low diff blocks by withholding the wallet or not having any pools setup where everyone can start mining at the same time. There's more than one way to skin a cat 
Yes this basically what is happening now, devs say no premine then have broken wallet links and no pools working for many hours giving them the premine.
Small premines are ok if done in a honorable way problem is too many greedy people spoil it for everyone else by dumping their huge premine before the coin even has a chance