 He missed it, and now the Lakers will go to the line. Stephen Curry has missed almost 9,000 shots over the course of his NBA career. He has missed approximately 6 out of every 10 3-pointers he has attempted, and yet he has widely considered the best shooter in the history of the game. The question is, why is he the best shooter of all time? Is it his footwork, his shooting form, his hand-eye coordination? Sure, all of these traits play a role, but there are plenty of players with these traits. So then what is it that makes Stephen Curry the GOAT? It's for two reasons. Number one, his commitment to the unseen hours, and number two, his consistent next-play mindset. Let's look at the unseen hours. Stephen Curry has most likely logged more hours and thus more made buckets in empty gyms than any player in history. Steph started playing basketball at 5 years old. He's currently 35. Let's conservatively assume he averaged making in extra 500 shots a day, 6 days per week, 50 weeks per year, from the time he was 15 until present day. That's 3,000 extra makes a week, 12,000 extra makes a month, and 150,000 extra makes a year, for 20 years. That's 3 million extra made shots. That doesn't count the extra shots he made from age 5 to 15, any workout where he made more than 500 shots, or factor in what he made in practices and games in middle school, high school, college, and the pros. That's literally 3 million unseen hours makes. If you do anything 3 million times, you're going to be really good at it. Now let's take a look at his next play mindset. It doesn't happen often, but there have been times when Steph has missed the first 5 shots in a game. Curry dancing along the baseline couldn't get the 3 to 4. Catch and shoot Curry in and out. How'd you hack the paint? Curry missed fires again. He's now missed 12 consecutive shots. What makes him the greatest shooter of all time is that he then shot the 6th shot with the same confidence and optimism as if he had made his first 5 shots. He never lets a previous miss affect his next shot. He misses the shot, next play. He misses another, next play. He wipes the slate clean after every shot and always believes his next shot is going in. When it comes to the unseen hours and next play mentality, Steph and Curry sets an unparalleled standard. That, my friends, is exactly why he is the greatest shooter to ever play the game. But wait, there's more. The unseen hours and next play concepts are not confined to basketball. They apply to executives, they apply to sales professionals, they apply to managers, they apply to you. It's been my experience that what's true in basketball is often true in business.