"My opinion is users new to track editing in general or new to Band-in-a-Box will find a smart tool a distraction."
Cakewalk people, including me love the tool. Why would you want to click around, finding tools, if the smart tool will "know" exactly what you want to do. I find it indispensable and a huge time saver. Jim, perhaps you didn't give it a chance? I tried most DAWs on the market. Cakewalk has the best smart tool hands down. You have Cakewalk. Spend 10-15 minutes with it, see if this will change your view.

"I hope that a Band-in-a-Box smart tool can quickly and easily be enabled and disabled as the user desires" - That exactly how it works in Cakewalk. +1

P.S. Smart tool doesn't prevent you working sequentially. You are not doing 2-3-5 tasks at once. Meaning, if you do selection, you can continue doing 20 separate selections and when you need to move track, you just point it on a different part of the track. In any case, I feel that it is a matter of taste, but I suggest giving it a chance.