There is a point.
Which is why practice makes perfect (or thereabouts).
Back whenever, we routinely hand flew, raw data, the entire sector for fun and practice. All sorts of interesting games arose when the traffic and weather workload was reasonably appropriate. For instance, on the Electra, for shorter sectors, we might climb to the maximum height deemed appropriate to nose over and commence the descent without any cruise - close the throttles and, while observing all SOP spin up rules and the like, not touch the throttles again or significantly vary from standard descent speed profile until the appropriate point on final or in the circuit. Severe penalties for miscalculations were settled in the bar on the next crew overnight (or overday for these freighter operations, more generally).
Similarly, on the jets, using the throttles or boards was a matter for some frowning so far as descent planning and monitoring competence was concerned.
End result, of course, was that we all had near no problems with any descent variations which ATC or weather might throw at us in anger.
Do you know what your aircraft can do when ATC holds you dreadfully high for whatever reason .. and then asks for a near-impossible descent crossing requirement ? The 733, for example, goes down real fine, dirty, at one nautical per thousand .. Do you know what maximum height you can overfly onto downwind for a simple circuit and landing while tracking a normal line over the ground ? Again, the 733 does this real fine over the top at 10-11,000 feet - often a useful technique coming into Cairns from the west with a strong westerly-caused circuit turbulence. Do you know what height you can enter downwind and do a normal-ish sort of circuit. On the Electra, coming northbound into Sydney in the wee hours, with a displaced threshold for noise abatement FL300 abeam the upwind threshold worked pretty fine. And so on ...
And this was, of course, sans FMC, GPS and other JB kits. Sure we had to work hard at getting proficient and maintaining proficiency ... but knowledge, work and practice are the main weapons in the armoury of flying skills ... all within the limitations of then-SOP restrictions.