Yes, to a point. A knight is often considered “less” than a bishop, but trading your bishop that is on the same color as your pawns for a knight that is coverin

Yes, to a point. A knight is often considered “less” than a bishop, but trading your bishop that is on the same color as your pawns for a knight that is covering the center is generally a “good trade”. Or taking a piece that is stuck or unlikely to be a threat while putting your own, possibly lesser piece at risk may be a poor play too. Game dynamics matter too. Knights do well in closed games where as bishops are nicer in open games. Games tend to open as time goes on though. And then of course if sacrificing to setup a mate soon - that’s the entire goal of the game so in that situation positioning is quite important. Counting the pieces is pretty indicative of most games I’d say though. Against poor players you can be down quite a few pieces while setting up a back rank mate the opponent just doesn’t see. But this would never fly at moderate skill levels.