As others have mentioned, using <strong>, <em>, <cite> etc. adds semantics. This is important because you say something about why you want to emphasize something and increase the readability of your html, because you know why it’s in bold.
Furthermore, screen readers use the strong tags to make an audible difference when reading it aloud.
Maybe you could think about the audio represenation as a guide. If you would want a difference when read aloud, for instance, mark it as <strong>. If not, use <b>.
Then there is the issue of rendering: I don’t actually know if all browsers will render a <strong> as bold and if it will stay that way.
So in short: <strong>No</strong>.