I think it becomes rather apparent very quickly who plays SAM and who doesn't when I hear people talk about this.
A lot of people are talking about Kaiten as if it's '' just another button '' when it isn't at all, it impacts the flow of combat quite a lot.

If they wanted to do something about '' button bloat '' then like you mentioned Ikishoten turning into Ogi Namikiri or Shoha 1 and 2 being merged would make more sense.
Kaiten being removed isn't just button bloat it's a gameplay nerf.