As a freshman, he never should have been starting. The only freshman who should have started was Z because there really was no one else. Lopez wasn't ready for the BE. James Scott, despite having his own issues was a senior, and should have been out there. The message that Mahoney sent to all of the upperclassman was awful.
He started 3 clueless freshman, and it cost them the season. Brown, Scott, McCloud, Minlend and Z should have started. McCloud was a better shooter than Lopez. Sadly, it didn't matter because Lopez was the name.
As far as his senior year, I concede. He finally put it together. His stats
were better than Artest's, but we watched that team, Lopez had a tremendous amount of help. How many NBA players were on that team? 6? 7? But who took the final shot against Detroit? Not the guy who should have. Obviously.