I agree with your assessment. I find Bowser to be easy to understand and play but not so much easy to play in a competitive setting. And I definitely would not phrase this distinction by calling Bowser "braindead". I'm sure you can agree that was a bit rude. If you're still playing Bowser, then there's more tips to be shared. Though many are buried, you'll find great threads for jab, covering ledge options with fortress, and what you need to know before you ever attempt Bowsercide.
For one thing, empty hops are not something we typically do. There's an anti-jump stigma among Bowser mains, and for good reason. Jumping is too much of a commitment in the neutral. Being able to shorthop autocancel Fair and Bair feels good, but it doesn't reach far enough to warrant the commitment to use them. An 8 frame jumpsquat and frame 11 Fair is notably slower than our basic tilts, and just as much endlag as you wait for Bowser to land and incur 6 frames autocancel lag. We do have two great tricks from shorthop though and if you can't wrap your head around Bowser's ground-focused game plan, these are some good tricks to compensate for the average player's Sheik-itis. First are the SHADC specials. Short hop, buffer an air dodge during jumpsquat, then buffer a special before landing. Bowser incurs 0 frames of landing lag as he winds up the special move of your choosing. Combine this with a speedy Fortress, a 24% damage Bowser Bomb, or frame 8 command grab, and it's a potent way of approaching through your opponent's attacks or projectiles and punishing them. The other sort of cool thing we can do is just short hop Side B. This move has a higher 17 frame startup in the air, but it autocancels on landing. Great for snatching people up in their shields because any normal character should only have attacks when airborne, not grabs. Bowser's air Side B takes advantage of this mental stigma as the opponent reflexively puts up shield as we approach from the air. And because you've got no landing lag, the option also beats any of their dodges to boot. Side B's lagless nature also makes it so we don't ever have to tech the ground. If you've ever heard of
A-landing, then you know why that's a big deal.