When I was younger, when people talked about an intelligent basketball player, I assumed the player was smart in an academic sense as well. People also speak this way now–for example, “He came from the Ivy League, so you know he’s an intelligent player.” But does being smart in the classroom mean someone will be smart on the field of play? I have my doubts about this, and I tend to think intelligence expresses itself in a specific way within the sports context.

Off the top of my head, here some aspects of the nature of intelligence within a sports context:

<ol>
<li>Perceiving the activity--the ability to see as much of the action as possible, all the players on the field and their actions. I think this is mostly a physical trait, and it would include good peripheral vision and seeing all the players on the field of play. I also think intelligent players recognize patterns, tendencies and little details that can be significant, in teams and individual opponents. </li>
<li>Processing the activity</li>--the speed at which one interprets what she is seeing. Really intelligent players process information quickly, and this could be within a second or two.  
<li>Understanding the activity</li>--making sense of what one is seeing in order to decide a course of action. This aspect requires previous knowledge and understanding of the game, including different offenses, defenses, etc., as well as the offense and defense of the specific opponent, as well tendencies of the individual players. This includes understanding of the fundamental principles behind a given offense or defense, leading to an understanding of why things are done in certain ways. Intelligent players have to have the cognitive capacity for this type of understanding, but they usually have to be willing to study individual teams and players to gain this knowledge as well. Overall, smart players interpret the situation accurately and choose sound course of action based on this. 
</ol> 

Basically, intelligence involves taking in a lot of complex and even chaotic information and processing it quickly to arrive at a sound course of action. Keen perceptive powers, quick information processing and deep understanding of the game--these are the ways intelligence manifests itself, and it allows the smart player to anticipate what's going to happen next. 

Am I missing anything?