An interesting tidbit from the abstract of the study: "Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the result of intense practice extended for a minimum of 10 yrs."
Obviously, if you want to play professional basketball you likely better be pretty tall, and that is out of your control. The other skills necessary are definitely not innate, they are learned and improved through practice and competition.
I think people claim some things are innate simply because they don't see the struggle that went into building up the talent and thus it just seems inexplicable. That or they are the people with the supposed innate talent and like the adoration of people thinking they are "blessed by the gods", so to speak.