One of the most common problems I've seen when a player is attempting to figure out an unfamiliar champion is a failure to consider the mid-game. For whatever reason they forget that there's a period of transition between laning/jungling and the late-game. This leads to some very interesting, and misguided, ideas.
A good example is the odd decision by a number of players to max Hecarim's E first. The concept is to utilize E's strong burst and flat mana cost to harass opponents in lane or crush opponents during ganks. Regardless of whether or not this works, the concept is fundamentally flawed because it doesn't account for the mid-game. A Hecarim whose primary damage tool is on a 16 second cooldown essentially has no role in a teamfight beyond his ult. By focusing only on the early-game these players overlook how useless they will be during the crucial mid-game.
Another example is are Galio players who max E second rather than W. For laning this makes sense, as it makes it easier to clear creep waves, but for team fights it's incredibly wrongheaded. The power of 90 Armor/MR on an otherwise squishy ally far, far outweighs slightly more damage and positional movement speed, and that's without considering the self-healing. Again, these players are losing sight of the big picture in their quest for a perfect laning phase.
This is not to say that early-game considerations are insignificant, they are important, but you always need a strategy for the mid-game. The transition from your early-game skill order and item build into your late-game is as crucial as the either of those two phases.
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