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This is the division that, in the first three months of the 1996-97 NBA season, has brought you: A coach who quit to become a general manager; a general manager who became a coach; a second general manager who became a coach; and a rookie coach who wishes he could be general manager, locker room manager, sales manager ... anything but head coach of a struggling, squabbling team.

And don't forget about the biggest single trade of the first half of the season, wherein someone acknowledged not long ago as a franchise player went from one struggling Midwest franchise to a struggling Pacific Division franchise.

MONROE'S ALL-DIVISION TEAM

F Charles Barkley Houston F Karl Malone Utah C Hakeem Olajuwon Houston G Clyde Drexler Houston G John Stockton Utah

Of course, it is also a division that has brought you two of the top three teams in the Western Conference.

Let us not forget the Midwest has also given us one of the more exciting stories of the entire NBA season, as one of the league's most promising young teams has emerged from the dark shadows of complete, utter and protracted failure.

Houston Rockets

Grade: A. The Rockets were rolling to the best record in the Western Conference before Charles Barkley suffered a severely sprained right ankle. The result of that misfortune, combined with the hamstring pull that sidelined Clyde Drexler, was to precipitate a losing skid that cost the Rockets their conference lead before the All-Star break.

Fact is, when Barkley and Drexler are healthy, they team with Hakeem Olajuwon -- still the best center in the NBA -- to give the Rockets three All-Stars and all the ingredients they need to get to the NBA Finals.

Outlook: Brent Price is still trying to regain the form -- and confidence -- he had before an injury cost him most of the first half of the season. He's one of the keys to the Rockets' success in the second half, because Rudy Tomjanovich still relies on the 3-point shot to keep teams from ganging up on Olajuwon.

If Price is right -- and the Big Three stays healthy -- the Rockets are a lock for the conference title.

Utah Jazz

Grade: A-minus. Is anyone really surprised Utah is right on the Rockets' heels for first place in the division, tied for the third-best record in the West? If so, smack yourself upside the head, because someone needs to get your attention.

MONROE'S PICKS

Here are Monroe's Midwest Division awards, based on the first half of the season: MVP: Charles Barkley, Houston The effect he has on the Rockets was reinforced when his ankle injury led to a losing skid. When he is in the lineup, Houston is the best in the West. Top rookie: Stephon Marbury, Minnesota Vancouver's Shareef Abdur-Rahim has put up more impressive numbers, but Marbury is one of the reasons the T-Wolves are much improved. Top coach: Flip Saunders, Minnesota He has the T-Wolves winning, and he had the courage to turn his team over to a 19-year-old rookie. He has been masterful in pulling all the right strings. Best acquisition: Barkley If we made him the first-half MVP, it stands to reason he is the best new acquisition. Biggest bust: Jim Cleamons, Dallas He tried to force the "Three Js" to play nicely together and share with others. He failed. All-Star snub: Mark Jackson, Denver OK, so the Nuggets suck. Nonetheless, Jackson is going to become the first player other than John Stockton to led the NBA in assists in the past 10 years.

Read our lips: As long as John Stockton and Karl Malone are on the Utah roster, the Jazz remains a title contender. We don't even need to specify they be healthy, because they never miss a game.

Outlook: For the Jazz to continue to push the Rockets, Bryon Russell, Jeff Hornacek and center Greg Ostertag are gong to have to have better second halves than they did first halves of the season. Ostertag, in particular, must hit the offensive boards better to give Malone a break from the pressure of constantly having to produce in the clutch.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Grade: B-minus. Maybe it is naive to give a sub-.500 team such a high mark, but having 22 wins as the week began was a major triumph for this franchise, so we're feeling compassionate.

Fact is, this is a team that has three legitimate stars, though two of them fall in the "potential star" category. Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury are going to be on many All-Star rosters before their careers are finished, and Tom Gugliotta finally made his first one.

Dumping Christian Laettner so Garnett and Gugliotta could grow as players has turned out to be a master stroke for Kevin McHale. And the draft-day deal that sent the rights to Ray Allen to Milwaukee for the rights to Marbury has been equally brilliant.

Outlook: This team will make its first appearance ever in the playoffs, and whichever of the upper-echelon teams has to play Minnesota is going to be nervous as hell, because the Wolves have just the kind of team that ought to frighten: so young it won't know it's not supposed to win that first-round series.

Dallas Mavericks

Grade: D. When Jim Cleamons agreed to let Dallas be his first head-coaching job in the NBA, little did he know someone had dropped a hornet's nest in his pants.

Cleamons thought he could make the "Three Js" co-exist.

He could not.

He thought all his problems with quirky players would be solved when he helped engineer the biggest blockbuster trade of the first half of the season, sending Jason Kidd packing away to Phoenix.

They were not.

Outlook: Unless Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson turn into the great scorers the Mavericks thought they would be when they drafted them, Dallas will miss the postseason again.

Denver Nuggets

Grade: D. This was a team that stopped rebuilding and went with veterans because it was going to return to the playoffs now, not next year.

Think again, Nuggets.

It took Bernie Bickerstaff only 13 games to understand just how futile the season was becoming, for that is when he decided to retreat to the relative safety and anonymity of the front office, where he once again serves as general manager.

He left the coaching -- and a brutal schedule in his first two weeks -- to old buddy Dick Motta. Motta has had the Nuggets playing better than they did under Bickerstaff, but they still were maddening, losing close game after close game, including the night they became the NBA's all-time leader in giveaways, blowing a 36-point lead and losing to the Jazz.

Outlook: They might be a mere five games removed from the playoff picture, but this team hasn't been able to put together a significant win streak all season. There is no reason to think the second half will be any different than the first. The big question in Denver: Will Bickerstaff and Motta be dumped before the season ends, or after?

San Antonio Spurs

Grade: C-minus. Because of injuries to David Robinson, Will Perdue, Charles Smith Chuck Person, we can't bring ourselves to give the Spurs a grade worse than this, even though their record warrants it.

Without Robinson, the weaknesses of players like Vinny Del Negro, Avery Johnson -- even Sean Elliott -- were exposed. Dominique Wilkins would have been a fine complement to Robinson, a valuable reserve. Without him, the aging Wilkins has had to do too much on offense.

Dumping the imperious Bob Hill made GM Gregg Popovich look bad, because Popovich took over as coach the day Robinson returned to the active list, but Popovich insists he had legitimate reasons, and we believe him, because we know him well.

But Popovich discovered Hill hadn't been kidding about his team's deficiencies without one of the league's dominating players.

Outlook: They trail the final playoff spot in the West by only seven games. Will they be capable of a long win streak in March and April? Absolutely. Look for them to sneak into the playoffs in the final week of the season -- and care the bejeezus out of whoever has to play them in the first round.

Vancouver Grizzlies

Grade: F. General manager Stu Jackson fired Brian Winters and took over as coach, but the Grizzlies kept on losing.

They have the worst record in the league again, the first team in the league to get to 40 losses.The Grizzlies should be much better than their inaugural campaign. They are not.

Outlook: Dismal, without even the prospect of earning the first pick in the draft, thanks to the deck the league stacked against the two expansion teams with rules designed to keep them at the bottom of the heap for a long time.

Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a weekly Midwest Division notebook for ESPNET SportsZone.