Earlier in the year, he was a bit of a sieve on defense. I believe that is because of his injury at the beginning of the year. It has taken him a little while to get his legs back under him.
Last year when I had gone to the Minnesota / Wisconsin game at the Kohl, I noticed how Essegian would use his own teammates to get around a screen both on the offensive and defensive end. He would actually put his hand or arm on his own teammate which would slingshot him to where he needed to be. I saw a little more of that lately, too.
He'll get back to form. As long as he doesn't get frustrated with minutes due to the points you outlined, I think he will be a solid contributor. There was a postgame interview with Coach Gard recently where he said that it is a challenge to have a deep squad.