Missing Is Not the Sin: Understanding the Law of Percentages and the Spirit of the Game

Yesterday at practice, someone laughed at another player during a drill because they missed a shot. Let me be very clear: if your mentality is to laugh at someone for missing, you are playing with a reprobate mind on the court. That mindset reveals a deep misunderstanding of the game of basketball—and of life itself.

Here is the truth: if you shoot 10 long-range shots in a game and make 3 of them, you are a darn good shooter. Statistics prove that even the best shooters in the world miss at least 6 out of every 10 attempts from deep. And since we are nowhere near the best shooters in the world, the reality is we will likely miss 8 out of 10 shots or more from that range.

Accept it.

This is the Law of Percentages.

From mid-range, if you take 10 shots in a game and make 4, that is realistic and respectable. Even when you are alone in your driveway, a shooter with correct mechanics may make 50% or more—but that is due to the peace and solitude of shooting alone, not the chaos, pressure, and movement of a live game.

Why Coaches Value Misses More Than Makes

The players I work with at the collegiate level are among the best in their respective cities. I have personally witnessed elite players shoot 1 for 21—and continue shooting the basketball with confidence.

As a coach, I care more about how a shooter misses than whether the shot goes in. Why? Because a made basket teaches us very little. The ball can fall through the hoop without much effort or sound technique.

But a miss?

A miss tells the truth.

From a miss, we can diagnose whether the issue is:

• the legs

• the upper body

• the release

• the arc

• or the targeting

Misses reveal knowledge gaps. And knowledge gaps are teachable.

The Basket Is Not the Teacher—The Flight of the Ball Is

The inside of the basket is a very small space suspended in midair. Yet when the ball passes through it, we have trained ourselves to feel rewarded—as if that small opening is the ultimate measure of success.

In reality, that space is inconsequential compared to what truly matters.

The basket can be moved.

The target can be changed.

What matters most is whether the projectile flies truthfully.

That truth is revealed in:

• proper arc

• straight ball flight

• balance

• rhythm

and being internally connected to your shot

These are the real lessons. These are what impact not only the entire game, but the individual as well. Without this knowledge, everything eventually falls apart.

Basketball, Boxing, and Training the Mind

Consider boxing. A boxer does not need an opponent to throw a punch correctly. The mechanics must exist before the fight ever begins.

The same is true in basketball.

Just as every perfect punch does not need to land, every properly executed shot does not need to go in. Like boxing—and all martial arts—basketball is built on a knowledge base that affects everything:

• fakes

• real shots

• decision-making (what to do and what not to do)

• confidence

• awareness

• understanding

This is where true competition comes from.

To lack these things severely impairs a player’s ability to compete—and it is extremely noticeable when someone does.

Basketball Is About Training the Inner Man

This proves that basketball is ultimately about training the inner man—the spirit—where thought and knowledge originate:

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?”—1 Corinthians 2:9–11

This wisdom may feel too heavy for a child who is simply trying to make a basket. But it is still the truth. And until a player is willing to understand it—and live by it on the court—they will continue to struggle.

We should not keep children from knowledge, as it is written.

Like life, we must rise out of lower states of mind in basketball. If we do not, we will continue to harm ourselves and others. This is why basketball is a knowledge-based game.

Without knowledge, you will perish on the court.

And let me be clear again:

Missing is not perishing.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”—Hosea 4:6

Shalom.

P.S. In all these things, remember: we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with matters of the spirit.

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💡Wookie’s Corner – More Insight from My Wife

Other sports clearly understand the art of mastering mechanics before worrying about results. In boxing and martial arts, athletes spend extreme amounts of time perfecting how they move. This practice is called shadow boxing—hours spent throwing punches without an opponent, without scoring points, without any external reward.

The focus is 100% on mechanics: generating power from the lower body, turning the hips on hooks, developing rhythm on the heavy bag, refining proper kicking techniques. None of this involves “winning” in the traditional sense. There is no scoreboard. The reward is the mastery itself.

Basketball must be trained the same way.

We have to stop obsessing over whether the ball goes through the hoop and start focusing on the mechanics of shooting—what could be called shadow shooting. When the desire to score is removed, the player is free to pursue perfection in form, balance, alignment, and rhythm. When mechanics become the reward, confidence becomes inevitable.

Knowledge Is What Makes Power Dangerous

In boxing and other martial arts, once you reach a certain level of training, you are required to register your hands and body as a lethal weapon. Not because your physical body magically becomes a weapon—but because your mind now knows how to wield your body to inflict damage.

I remember when I was an orange belt in Tae Kwon Do, my instructor told us we were no longer allowed to get into fights at school like other children. Why? Because the knowledge we were receiving put other people’s lives at risk.

That knowledge changed responsibility.

Now, knowing how to properly shoot a basketball may not make you dangerous on the blacktop—but it does make you a lethal shooter on the court. And the difference is not talent. It is not confidence. It is not effort.

It is knowledge of correct mechanics.

That knowledge changes how you move, how you think, how you decide, and how you compete. It carries weight. And once you have it, you are accountable to it.

So in all your getting, get understanding.

— Bree