That has also been my experience. Truth is, there are many good developers out there. Maybe they can't be bothered to practice for leetcode (and why should you do it if you do not have 100k applicants per open role?).

In ~4h total time interview you can have a very strong feeling if someone will be a fit culturally and if they aren't incompetent. Give them a chance.

Or you can spend months and many more hours to roll a dice with a bit higher chance of making a better hire...