Expecting perfection is one of the surest ways to be disappointed. Humans are fallible, which almost inexorably causes human-made systems to be similarly flawed. But in an explicitly competitive environment such as sports, the target shouldn’t be “perfect”; it should be “better.” Even the most accurate shooting team in the NBA missed 50.9 percent of its shot attempts last season (Golden State). The team most careful with the ball still turned it over on 10.9 percent of its chances (Charlotte), while the best defensive rebounding squads still allowed opponents to grab 19.7 percent of available offensive rebounds (Milwaukee and Utah). Mistakes were made.
The knowledge base of any sport is the result of an accumulative process as strategies and techniques are introduced and either become successful enough to survive as building blocks for future innovation or fail and are rejected, at least for a time.
Someone had to invent the crossover and the Euro step…
