Mavericks can survive until Luka Doncic returns from injury; Lakers should trade Kyle Kuzma

You never want to see a player go down due to injury, especially when that someone is Luka Doncic. The Mavs star has been having another historic season, and is a surefire MVP candidate early on. During the game against the Miami Heat on Saturday night, Doncic quickly exited in the first quarter after turning his ankle while driving to the basket. He was diagnosed with a moderate ankle sprain that is could keep him out until after Christmas. While losing Doncic for any amount of time is a significant blow, Dallas reportedly feels it "dodged a bullet"' as the injury could have been a lot more serious. In fact, Doncic was apparently seen by teammates running on the underwater treadmill at halftime. 

Still, it doesn't help that the Mavericks' schedule isn't getting any easier this week. After facing the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, they'll have dates with the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors -- all among the East's best -- every other day. Without Doncic, Dallas will be lucky to win one game during that stretch.

Injuries have not been kind to Kyle Kuzma this season. He already missed four games to start the season after rehabbing over the summer from a left foot injury he suffered while playing for Team USA, and he's been sidelined for the past three games with a sprained ankle. In between that time, he's played 20 games for the Lakers, averaging 11.1 points and three rebounds a night. Both of those numbers are significant drops from his averages a season ago. Granted, he was starting in all but two games he played in 2018-19. This season, Kuzma has not been able to make a big enough impact for the Lakers coming off the bench. 

Kuzma's minutes are down from 33.1 to 23.1 this season, mainly because he isn't a consistent enough shooter or strong enough  defender to be on the floor. There's a reason Alex Caruso has received so much praise this season, because when he comes in the game he can knock down shots. That's something Kuzma can't do, and as strong as the Lakers have been to start the season, when it comes time for the playoffs they'll need all the scorers and defenders they can get their hands on to give them more of an edge. That's why trading Kuzma for another wing player would be the right move for the Lakers.

Read more here: CBS Sports

The Flat-Earth Fallacy

When Fantasy and Science Collide

Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series of novels may seem like fantasy to most of us, but to some the vision of a flat disc-like world is a reality…

Incredibly, right now in the 21^st Century, there is a growing surge in popularity for the belief that the Earth is flat. Once dismissed as irrational fools that would eventually go away, they are now starting to fight back with ever increasing complexity in their arguments to support their misguided conviction. They say that society has been misled by government conspiracy into believing that the Earth is a globe, although the reasons for why such a conspiracy would be needed are a little less clear. The most common hypothesis put forward seems to be that it is in order to continue faking space travel and embezzle the funds left over.

Think about it for a moment… how many people would need to be in on this cover-up?

Pilots, astronauts, governments, Elon Musk and his SpaceX Company and all its employees, meteorologists and the whole scientific community would need to be collaborating on this, not to mention most of their family members.

The Russian Roscomos Space Agency and America’s NASA, have apparently been so successful in fooling society that the Earth is round that China, Europe and India have started their own space programs, and have joined in on the conspiracy.

You couldn’t make it up. Well luckily, you don’t have to because the Flat Earth Society has done it all for you. You can visit this website here and gaze at it in awe, possibly in much the same way as you would watch a chimp’s tea party, or watch me attempting to dance gracefully.

Trolls or Genuine?

After initially discovering this ever growing community of the Flat Earth Theory on social media, I assumed they were just another version of online trolls. It wasn’t until I read some of the comments that I realised they genuinely believed what they were saying, although I am sure some of them are just doing it to amuse themselves and laugh at the outraged replies to their comments. It’s almost like coming across a fully grown man who believes in Santa Claus and who has managed to make a rationale for every law of physics such a mythical character would need to break in order to deliver on his role.

It’s almost like coming across a fully grown man who believes in Santa Claus and who has managed to make a rationale for every law of physics such a mythical character would need to break in order to deliver on his role.

Celebrities are starting to be rolled out by the Flat Earth Society too.

Shaquille O’Neal, the former NBA basketball star and B.O.B. whose real name is Bobby Ray Simmons Jr a rap artist, are two of the most well-known of these. Rumours originating from a spoof website that President Donald Trump is a proponent are false, however.

So, enough of my incredulity, let’s have a look at some of the claims that ‘prove’ the Earth is a flat disc and not a globe at all…

The Claims

• Gravity is a lie.
• There is no curvature of the horizon.
• Satellites are a hoax and photographs of the Earth are photo-shopped, whilst Computer Generated Imagery is used to create videos of the planet’s global look.
• Water would fall off the planet’s surface if we are spinning on a globe.
• Space agencies are in reality using their huge budget to control missiles from space.
• The Arctic Circle is the centre of the disc and Antarctica is a 150-foot high wall of ice at the outer rim of the disc.
• NASA employees guard the rim.
• The sun and the moon are spheres (!) that move in circular motions 3,000 miles above the Earth, creating night and day.
• Albert Einstein was a fraud.
• An ‘Anti-moon’ causes eclipses

Continue reading here: The Flat-Earth Fallacy