That kid and his daddy ae morons. Take for instance an empty merry-go-round and a fully load merry-go-round. Same size diameter but one weighs prolly 2 tons more. Which would take more energy to spin?

Yes wider wheels can be better but then your adding more weight. Bigger wheels have smaller sidewalls (if you want to keep the speedo accurate), which help in cornering, but at the price of acceleration and braking speeds. But a larger wheel can also cause a suspension to move slower and not react as quickly over bumps making the ride harsher.

Smaller wheels have more cushioning (sidewalls), but when I went from 17s to 16s to 15s I gained more cornering abilities and better acceleration.