Why the admiration for Rommel? Much of it was wartime mythologizing by the British, building up Rommel's reputation so as to explain why they kept losing to him for so long in North Africa. Those who knew Rommel best -- the German general staff -- saw him as a Nazi and a loyal Hitler favorite lacking an appreciation of logistics and of the limited strategic importance of his North African campaign.
Yet Rommel deserves credit for avoiding wartime atrocities and for eventually seeing that the war was lost and confronting Hitler over it. On balance, Rommel was ultimately less a Nazi and more a German patriot and a military professional. Had Rommel not been suicided on Hitler's orders, he might have served honorably in the post-war Germany military or in the German government. Rommel's son had a worthy career after the war as a conservative German political figure.
With regard to atrocities, Rommel had the advantage of not being on the Eastern front.
With regard to armored warfare development, many other soldiers contributed such a Guderian.