The Milwaukee Bucks are more than halfway through the season, and the playoffs seem to be far off in the distance and the NBA lottery is creeping up in the rear-view mirror.

The Bucks find themselves a considerable amount of games under .500 at this point in the season and have not had a winning streak of five or more games since November. The only way they can get within striking distance of the playoff race is to start putting some winning streaks together and start eliminating the lengthy losing streaks they have had up to this point in the season.

If the Bucks were in the Western Conference, I would have declared their playoff chances over already, but being in the East, they have a shot. That’s mainly because the final two spots in the East are occupied by teams that are sitting a few games under the .500 mark.

If teams continue to play at the level they are currently playing at, the Bucks would be required to only play a handful of games over .500 to take one of the spots away from another team. In order to do that, the Bucks must put their foot on the gas pedal soon or by the All-Star break in mid-February they will be headed to the NBA draft lottery.

The only thing is most fans probably would rather have the Bucks continue to struggle and not make the playoffs, because the reward they will get if they make the playoffs will be a fast exit. The Bucks would probably draw either the Boston Celtics or the Detroit Pistons, which would result in quick a finish to their playoff lives.

The main reason why the Bucks still have a small shot at making the playoffs is they have a hand full more of home games left then road games for the remainder of the season.

In the off-season, Bucks general manager Larry Harris was ordered by Bucks owner Herb Kohl to take this team to the playoffs or be fired at the end of this season. This says Harris is already feeling the collar tighten up on him and knows he may have to tweak this roster in order to turn this into a playoff team.

There is no next season for Larry Harris, like the rest of the Bucks players and the coaching staff, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to make a trade as the deadline approaches.

Harris has a history of making trades that look good but don’t pan out, such as trading T.J. Ford, who is currently with the Toronto Raptors, for current Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva.

That trade has not worked out up to this point, and that’s why Harris may be handed his pink slip at the end of the season. Harris must get on the phone and try to work out some deals with other teams, because I don’t see this current roster being able to turn things around and go the playoffs.

There are no trade rumors involving the Bucks swirling around at this time, mainly because there is about a month before the deadline yet. I believe that before the trade deadline passes the Bucks will make some kind of trade – because Harris’ job depends on it.

I could see the Bucks possibly trying to move Dan Gadzuric who is making over 5 million a year to keep the bench warm. I also could see Charlie Bell traded because he wanted out anyways after the controversial off season he had with the Bucks organization. There are always some surprises of players that leave a team so as fans were going to have to stay on our toes and look out for possible shocking developments that may occur as the trade deadline approaches.

Finally, Bucks fans you can still keep the faith for now, but the end of the season for the Bucks seems to be very close and as fans we are probably going to have to hope the Bucks hit it big in May when the NBA draft lottery takes place.

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