No. HAMB just means you must put in the time.
You must do the roadwork, do the reps *with focus and concentrations to discern what is is happening each time you shoot.*
Something wrong with that?
Something wrong with an instructor telling you what to do, how to set up, how to pause, only to find out later that it was completely and totally wrong for you as an individual player?
Or do you hit a million balls, pay attention, and figure it out on your own rather than waste time going down a bad road?
Lou Figueroa
That's why I said for "some" people. For others HAMB = putting in the time.
The only two ways you know a road is bad is to have an accurate and up to date map (i.e. a good coach) or to go down it and have to turn around.
There is nothing wrong with an instructor who doesn't give you what you need. Sometimes you have to explore the "bad" to find the good.
If you would read the book then you would understand this. Getting the wrong information also builds myelin in that it builds the pathways to quickly process input to determine what is "good" and what is "bad".
I am of course assuming that you have not read the book yet based on your responses. If you have then perhaps it's better to discuss which parts you don't agree with.
HAMB does equate to trial and error. Whether it's trial due to being coached or simply unscripted follow-your-whim discovery it's still TRY-ERR-MASTER.
That is what the book is about. A good coach becomes a good coach by virtue of trying-erring-mastering. Thus the combination of a good coach/instructor with a student willing to put in the time practicing DEEPLY is an important part of understanding how proficiency evolves in the brain.
The book opens with an example of a mediocre music student who works through a difficult piece in six minutes rather than the month it normally takes. Why? The book posits that it's because she is intently focused and that intensity drives myelin production which makes the neurons make faster connections. Thus each rep brings her understanding of the complexity to another level. Wheras if she simply "put in the time" without putting in the focus then it would take her a month to reach the same level of proficiency playing the same piece.
We don't know if there was an instructor who said or did something to spark that intensity. Maybe, maybe not but it's there and that sort of deep intense focused practice is what is important.
Thus a person CAN develop into a good player with an "unorthodox" style. Because as Dave Segal put it, "it's all about the balls going in the holes and it doesn't matter how they got there". The balls don't care if the person did an irish jig before they were struck. They only go where directed. So you take a Keith Mcready and toss him into a pool room with a bunch of stone-cold killers as a teenager where the only "instruction" is win or be broke then that kid is going to figure out how to get the balls to the holes. He is in what is a "hotbed" for nurturing and challenging and channeling desire. At that moment no one cares about the form if the goal is met. The score is kept by how much money is won in that situation. So myelin production is going crazy in that situation.
Now imagine if a little Keith Mcready with all that desire is paired up with an Efren Reyes as a coach/role model.
Oh wait, you have one, his name is Ronnie Alcano, world champion.