My guess? LolliFlop was designed by Marketing, not by Software Engineering. Their motto is the same as another well-known company's - "Inferior But Marketable".
It was designed by a designer. Matias Duarte. Not by software engineers, and not by Marketing. Marketing had a say, sure, but so did the software engineers. Marketing clearly stated goals that they wanted based on the competition (and other factors too), engineering said "yeah, we can do that", and Matias designed it. Maybe not in that order, but they all certainly played a roll. They all had input.
Sure, there are things that can be better. And I'm sure Google is aware of those things (actually, I KNOW they are). Whether they agree with the premise that a different way is better I don't know, but I do know that they're hearing the feedback. It's not being ignored.
We also know that Google iterates relatively quickly, and that eventually we'll see 5.x.x or whatever that will tweak things.
BTW, have you used Lollipop on a device for any length of time to get a feel for how it works on a day-to-day basis? Personally, I can't go back even given the few shortcomings it has in comparison to Kit Kat.