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I can't think of anyone more highly attuned to the instinct part of this than Dennis Rodman.

"We were standing in the lay-up line, warming up and shooting, and Rodman was standing back and watching everybody shoot. I said, ‘Hey, come on, you have to participate; everybody’s shooting lay-ups, you have to shoot lay-ups, too.’ And he said, ‘I’m just watching the rotations on the basketball.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘Like, when you shoot, your ball spins three times in the air. Joe’s sometimes has 3 1/2 or four times.’

That’s how far Rodman had taken rebounding, to a totally different level, like off the charts. He knew the rotation of every person that shot on our team — if it spins sideways, where it would bounce, how often it would bounce left or right. He had rebounding down to a science, and I never heard anyone think or talk about rebounding and defense the way he could break it down."

Isiah Thomas on Dennis Rodman's rebounding. http://www.businessinsider.com/dennis-rodman-basketball-geni...

The common narration is that players like Rodman have "instinct" instead of "smarts". I'll leave it unsaid as to why this is.

When you pay attention to data that much, it's a science just like any other kind right ?

The best 3rd best player ever: http://skepticalsports.com/?p=112

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