PORTLAND, Ore. — The most accurate shooter in the N.B.A. began his career by missing his first field-goal attempt, and his second, and his third — all of them in a span of four seconds after he collected his own rebounds against the Memphis Grizzlies.

It was the start of an unfortunate trend for Clint Capela, then a first-year center for the Houston Rockets. He wound up spending most of the season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the N.B.A. Development League in between sporadic appearances for the Rockets. It would be four months before he finally made his first shot in the N.B.A., capping a sad string of 11 straight misses in all.

Worse, he bricked his first 15 free throws.

“Yeah,” Capela said, “that was tough.”

Houston General Manager Daryl Morey could sense Capela’s potential, or at least had enough faith to believe in it despite his struggles. Capela, only 20 at the time, was long and strong with a sturdy work ethic. But he could not make layups, and forget the small tragedies that befell him at the foul line.

“It was a bumpy start,” Morey said. “There are only so many ‘Hey, everything’s going to be fine’ conversations you can have. It has to seep into someone’s confidence when they’re that young.”