Yes, I agree with him. What's the reason to use React? It is over-engineered and too complicated for no clear benefit. It takes longer to build an app using react just because you have to deal with things that are exclusive to react
Try next.js. We have seen massive improvements in code quality and development velocity using v13/14. Our codebase is a mix of typical server rendered crud web and client only logic (web3). It feels like php without the bad parts. In particular react actions proved to be a major quality of life improvement.