I agree with you almost completely, but I think this is less a review of SAO than a review of its main character. If you cut out some of your specific gripes with him, you'd have more room to comment on other aspects of production.
Most of my gripes with the show is the fact that Kirito is the main character. He's probably 50% of the reason why I don't like this show as much as I would. If the anime didn't focus on Kirito so much, I probably would have liked it a lot more (aside from obvious bad writing such as contrived coincidences/deus ex machina, or having a rapey guy in the ALO and GGO arc to up the evilness of the two villains.
I think it made sense - it is listed as wasted potential, even mentioning that the premises themselves are good, but ultimately fail because the main character takes the 'depth' out of them. At least, that's how I understood the review, alongside the title.
The thing is most of the other characters are rather boring, even if they aren't as annoying or at least more interesting than Kirito.
pretty much every single girl in the first season who is in love with him is a one-note anime archetype (loli, tsundere, imouto, other tsundere) with nothing interesting about them whatsoever. Never mind all the other characters whose names I don't remember at all because they fail to make any kind of lasting impression.
It reminds me of when I tried to read the first Twilight book and how nothing in it stood out at all and I was bored out of my mind, they are basically opposite sides of the same coin after all.
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Wasted Potential: The Series
I haven't watched the 4th season yet, so perhaps my opinion about this series will change, but for now I am only reviewing seasons 1-3 and nothing from the LN, since I never read the LN.
Let's get this one out of the way. Kirito is a terrible MC. You heard this before. He's a wish fulfillment character. He's an overpowered Gary Stu with no real personality outside of being a nice guy. His character is written inconsistently (wanting to torture Sugou, suddenly having PTSD in GGO even though he didn't show it in the Alfheim arc, etc.)Everything about revolves around him and it really detracts from the show. Characters that could have shined had their spotlight taken from them by Kirito. Asuna challenging Kuradeel? Sinon looking like the prospect main character of GGO? Nope, Kirito needs to solve this murder-mystery.
Kirito isn't a terrible character, but everything about him just feels forced. His forced romances (every girl sans Suguha loves him because he saved him). His contrived coincidences (surviving just long enough to kill Heathcliff after being brought down to zero, somehow accessing admin mode when he couldn't beat Sugou, having an electrode conveniently placed on the EXACT same place Kyoji injected the syringe at.) There are so many scenes in this show that felt unnecessary but were added to show that Kirito is soooo coool.
Even the tragedies he suffers seemed forced since there were no actual consequences shown. I know he's a loner because his guildmates were killed, but I only know that because I was told. That's the problem with the show as well. Too much telling, not enough showing. SAO tries so hard to be dramatic, but the characters aren't developed enough to carry that emotional weight the show wants them to support (except for Sinon. I felt her backstory and character was very well done, since we had a lot of focus on her).
The main problem of SAO is too much Kirito, not enough everybody else. The premises for each arc are fine on there own, but when you have an obvious wish-fulfillment character, it becomes harder to watch, especially if you can't relate to him. Is the show bad? Well, no. There are parts that I did enjoy. Is it any good? Nope. It's more like disappointingly below average. Like, imagine the most average meal you can think of and make it a bit above or below room temperature. That's SAO.