Goingin... I don't think you fully understood his post. He referred to Sasuke and Neji as geniuses with high natural talent, while Naruto and Rock Lee did not have high natural talent, but they were still strong because of their other qualities. He wasn't calling Rock lee and Naruto a genius.

Though the genius theme is kind of played out now, because the loser (Naruto) has risen past the rest of the genin, the genius were people like Haku Neji and Sasuke. The drop-outs were Naruto and Rock Lee. Naruto and Rock Lee had a poor upbringing and not much obvious talent, and they had to train very hard to get where they are (though Naruto wouldn't have gone very far without the nine-tail's help).