The meshes are completely different. Here's a good example, from the article that yourself linked; the meshes don't align, the analogue parts of the body have a completely different number of vertices (Direhowl's extremities are more detailed, while Lycanroc uses a lot more vertices in the main body), the overall shape of the details is different, and even the details themselves differ (e.g. Direhowl has a well-defined nose and a tuft of fur between the ears; Lycanroc has neither).

It would be harder to distort a Lycanroc this way than making it from the scratch.

Side note: as the other user said, claims are not evidences. And Twitter is almost as bad as Reddit when it comes to this crap.