I don't think the best player in the world has probably ever been the most athletically gifted. There are too many other factors that contribute to success like the work ethic you mentioned, towards skills training, which is the ultimate divider, but there also things like luck; after all, if you're born in a place where there is no money, no basketball courts or sports training facilities, no basketball culture or knowledge, and it's a struggle just to eat, then you're probably not going to succeed.
But beyond that, I dunno, it's so hard to assess the intangibles. It's easy to record a 3/4 sprint time or a vertical leap height.
It's much harder to assess how someone's brain processes his vision of the court, and all of the bodies flying around it. It's harder to figure out exactly how muscle memory works, so that some guys improve more than other with fewer repetitions, but maybe more importantly, how this applies to their ability to make the right adjustments on the fly when you're doing something that is only mostly similar to something you practiced before, but not identical. It's harder to understand why some guys are so good at timing, understanding rhythm, you know, patterns of movement, and how to disrupt them, so that-- for example-- they get their opponents off balance, and blast by them, not necessarily because they are quicker or more agile. It's harder when you're watching a game of basketball to tell which players are inherently the best at balancing their bodies.
I believe there is (neuro)physical talent for a lot of these intangibles, too, they're just nearly impossible to assess. The point is I'm not confident I truly know who is the most naturally talented player out there even independent of work ethic, game-time hustle, and champion psychology.
