...individual player that isn't great defensively but we still need to see effort and focus from that player. This was an area where Pope often had to pull Jaxson Robinson and sit him down for stretches the past 2 yrs. Jax had all the tools to be a really good on-ball defender and at times showed that he can be an impact player on D (go back and watch him defending on-ball vs Abmas and Hunter in the Texas game) but he didn't always have the blue-collar mentality/drive to bring that same focus to every game.

As long as Blackmon is dialed in to what the team is doing (help and recover) it can work. Problem is if he is the kind of player who just hangs out biding time on the defensive end until we get the ball back it's like playing 4 on 5. We had this problem 2 yrs ago with Rudi Williams. Very talented offensively but not focused or dialed in at all on D then compounded that with really bad defensive instincts and fundamentals.