There are hundreds of examples of this on both ends of the court. Just take my word for it, the more you automate your skills the faster you will be able to react and move in executing a critically needed skill at the critical time. This frees up your attentional capacity making you more flexible in thinking and seeing the game on the court, and substantially quickening your decision making ability. Automation does not occur without repetition. Repetition allows you to not only reach a higher level but to sustain a level of play you cannot sustain without it.
Repetition is more important to understand and work at than just practicing a skill over and over.
The less you have to be re-taught, the faster you progress to a higher level of the game. This is true for teams as well. When players do not listen and cannot repeat their skills, they become stagnant. Players become bored doing the same drills, and coaches get frustrated having to spend so much time on the same drills because their is little progress. The best players I have ever coached had the ability to listen or observe to how a skill should be performed, then change their execution of that skill, and perform it consistently correctly thereafter rarely regressing.