We could really, really use Hopson's talent, let there be absolutely no doubt about that. But Hopson seems like the kind of player Stans struggles with, that being a player with a bad attitude. Team players like Bowers, Zimmerman, Roberts, Austin, Vincent, Power, Varnado, etc seem to flourish under him, and when we have a lot of these types we typically win a bunch of games. However the attitude players like Jackson, Ervin, Sharpe, Houston, Delk sisters, and even Rhodes to a certain extent struggle under him, at least for part of their careers. Most end up leaving. For whatever reason Stansbury doesn't do well at reigning in players. If they walk onto MSU campus with an attitude we are going to have trouble with them. We missed on some guys in terms of character which lead to lack of depth and some struggles on the court. Thankfully we seem to have a lot of team players right now.
While losing Hopson's skills will hurt us, we are probably better off without him.