I, for one, appreciate your observations. Yes, on one hand, it's easy just to say "of course they are better" but you specifically mentioned a couple of areas like "smooth" and "instinctive."
For years we've been missing this and it, IMO, is so important to winning basketball. We've had athletes who could run, jump and defend but most of the time they weren't "smooth" (especially in shooting the ball) and "instinctive" in the nuances of the game.
I think what you're saying is we need "athletes who are basketball players" and I'm pretty sure CAJ would agree and I suppose he's going to do something about it.
