Agreed. The most enjoyment I've gotten from the game so far is actually walking around and finding them and getting the best stats. As for actually using them in the gyms and such, I'm not yet interested in doing that.
I also agree, but a way I find entertainment on my quest to filling out my pokedex is by fighting gyms with the goal of adding a crappy pidgey or rattata after I've taken it.
I change the names in my replacements to something like "The King".
For a level 10 pidgey that's a lot of confidence.
I do this for a few reasons:
1) I can.
2) It's fun and keeping gyms is ridiculously hard.
3) It gives new players a chance to unseat my gym and get their daily bonus.
4) Powering up gyms is way under powered at this point.
5) This also gives other people on my team to power up the gym and reach their own goal if they like.