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Hoops Jones got to the basketball court early that morning. He got to the court early every morning. Wintertime, summertime, in season or not, Christmas, the end of the world, or whatever, it didn't matter to him. There was still going to be a next season, as far as he knew. He had to practice his long jumper. That was his bread and butter shot; it was the thing that still kept him on the team. What did his agent call it? Mar-ket-a-bil-i-ty! The rest of his play was marginal and always would be. He wasn't big enough or quick enough to ever be a top player in the NBA.
He didn't mind being a 'role player', but last year he averaged only eight minutes of playing time per game. He had to get his playing time up to ten or twelve minutes, or he was in danger of being cut. And to do that, he needed an even better long jump shot.
He started by dribbling out to the foul line for a few warm up shots. From there he planned to gradually increase the range, trying jumpers from all over the court, until he was deep into three-point territory.
He concentrated hard, and made his first shot. And his second! He increased the range, and still made his shot! Again and again there was nothing but net! Soon he was making three pointers. Damn he was hot! He couldn't miss! Too bad this wasn't a game.
It was when he was retrieving his shots that he first suspected that something was very strange. The balls seemed to somehow just come to him when he wanted them to! And now that he suspected something odd and watched the motion of the balls more closely, it became clear that something really weird was happening. Balls curved this way or that so that his shots scored, even if they appeared to be a little off the mark to begin with! Then they bounced right back to him, if he wanted them to!
For the next hour or so he experimented with this newfound talent of his. He found that regardless how good or how poor the physical shot was, what mattered was his level of concentration during the 'follow through' while the shot was making its way to the target. If he concentrated on the ball going in, it did. Every single time!
It even went through if he threw the ball towards the stands, or towards the opposite goal. For those shots he at first followed the ball's motion out of the corner of his eye, while he mentally concentrated on the basket. Otherwise he would miss the shot. Then after some more practice, he found that he could make the ball float wherever he wanted it to by staring directly at it. He could make a ball fly in weird spirals, or he could make the motion look quite 'natural'.
Didn't the COM that morning say something about some people having psychic powers? He should have paid more attention.
By the end of his strange practice session, he was sitting in the stands sipping a Coke, while through mental concentration alone, half a dozen balls flew all around the court, scoring at both goals.
Hoops figured that he would be having a damn good season.