Dude, if you stopped watching the anime because of Rock Lee, then you have no idea how they wasted his rival, Neji.
He was practically the strongest rookie ninja and even Kakashi himself went so far as to say that the Byakugan was better than the Sharingan (the normal one).
He could have had a great arc and very great character development alongside Rock Lee. I'm sure they could have done some really cool stuff with both of them instead of shoving in pure filler.
Lee was a neglected character after that fight, he had practically no more epic moments, that was his prime. Not even the fight against kimimaro was as good as the one against Gaara, so in a way I understand you, but as you say, the anime is called Naruto and in a bad way, the creator focused on Naruto and Sasuke when he could have done such great arcs with other characters. It is such a wide and rich world that if you sit down to observe, each character could have its own anime.
Neji too? Really? Good thing I didn't want to see anything else. I was spared further disappointment.
Like I said before, I think the creator created a character with so much potential that he didn't know how to handle him so that he doesn't overtake the main character. And I understand that because I was more interested in Rock Lee than Naruto.
Anyway, too bad. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment.
Regards n.n