...can get a little laissez-faire regarding effort and fundamentals because their physical gifts have always bailed them out in the past.

Look at Yoeli on defense, through his junior year he was horrible on PNR defense and it was mostly mental and effort. Even Last year while he was a little more focused on team D he was not a good one on one defender and frequently let mediocre players get the better of him. He rarely had to guard anyone tough either