The trading deadline in the National Basketball Association is this Thursday, and the rumors are swirling that the Bucks are looking into trade offers for Andrew Bogut.

Obviously these rumors are fed by a number of things, but one that must be included is the frustration that we all feel over the fact that the young man seems to be injury-prone.

He's missed a lot of games in his seven-year career. At the same time he has developed his skills so that he has become a very good defender and a solid rebounder and offensive presence. His passing ability has been a strength since he entered the league.

He has also become a real contributor to the community. He does a lot, and most of it doesn't get any publicity. He's a good solid citizen off the court, but he has begun to develop a moderately mean style on the court that helps the team. He's also got a big contract and the dream has been that he and Brandon Jennings would form the backbone of the team in years to come.

Despite all of the advantages to having a good seven-footer on your team, we are faced with the question of whether Bogut should be traded.

The hot rumor is that the Bucks will only listen to trade talks from teams which are willing to also take the living-up-to-his-disruptive-reputation guard Stephen Jackson, as well. Let's just discard that for the moment and concentrate on the Bogut deal.

The question of the day is whether the Bucks should trade Bogut. Like most of these questions the answer depends on lots of things.

Key among them is what can the Bucks get for him. Is this a team badly in need of going back to the beginning or just a few steps away from being a much better team?

I think that a good center is as important to a team as a good point guard, maybe even more so. And good centers don't grow on trees. Once you get one you ought to do everything you can to to develop and keep him.

One of the things I think that any team who wants him and the Bucks need to do is assume that Bogut will someday be healthy for a long period of time, maybe an entire season or two. If you can't assume that you don't want to trade for him. And if the Bucks can't assume that, they will want to dump him for almost anything.

So let's assume that Bogut regains and maintains his health.

One of the guys I know who has a ton of knowledge about the NBA and who follows it closer than most mortals is a friend named Brent Hazelton. Recently he wrote about the Bucks and said as follows:

"... a good shooting guard added to the roster, and the Bucks are right there and good enough to convince Brandon to come back," he wrote. "Brandon, a 2 guard, Delfino, Ersan and Andrew with Beno, Dunleavy, Harris, Prince Luc and Gooden as the second unit, and Sanders, Leuer and Livingston as the deep depth."

I agree with Hazelton that there is a lot of potential to have a strong team if Bogut comes back. The odds are they Bucks aren't going to find another center in a trade with anyone. So I say, why do it?

We don't need more forwards or guards unless they are all-stars, and that's not going to happen. I think it's time to just have a little faith that the gremlins of injuries will find someplace else to turn their attention than Andrew Bogut.