ESPN NBA

Kevin Garnett, right, might follow Tim Duncan's footsteps as the league's MVP.

Ha ha.

The Midwest Division is being broken up in the name of realignment, but not before the Midwest Division breaks up everyone else first, saying goodbye with sledgehammers.

Everyone gets a new neighborhood next season, except that only the Midwest goes out with a collective domination for the ages, depending, ultimately, on who wins the championship. Which one of its representatives (San Antonio) did the last time. After playing another (Dallas) in the West final.

So good is the division in 2003-04 that the true measure of its power is in the worst team. The Jazz, only the three other basement dwellers, can actually be in last place in a month and still claim, with a straight face, that the season has been a success in many ways. Utah will have dramatically overachieved in number of wins -- although any preseason prediction that pegged a Jerry Sloan-coached team to wimpishly finish last in the league was ridiculous from the start -- will have sent Andrei Kirilenko to the All-Star Game and will have been one of the positives stories of the entire league.

That is how good the Midwest is. Its worst could be among the best.

For the moment, at least, the Jazz was at .500 on Thursday morning and still just an extended arm away from making the playoffs. The last-place team in the Pacific, the Suns, was at .324. Orlando in the Atlantic was at .271. Duh! The Bulls were .269 in the Central.

"When you're looking out there every night thinking you probably don't have a chance to win," Sloan said, "it's stronger from our standpoint."

Of course, that extended arm for the playoffs was reaching up within the division, not dealing with the Pacific. Six of the eight postseason representatives in the West -- Minnesota, San Antonio, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, Denver -- could come from the Midwest, with only Portland in realistic position to crash the party. Otherwise, the Kings have the best record in the conference and the Lakers have the résumé and the modern-day potential, but the Midwest has the goods.

"It's like one win or one loss drops you several places," Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said.

It's like nothing else. The NBA of the 1990s routinely had three teams finish better than .600 in the same division. This time and this place, four could do it.

Then again, the Midbest could do it all.

Certainly it has title contenders. Only everything depends on the health of Tim Duncan, but, healthy, the Spurs defend and rebound with a passion, and that counts in the playoffs more than ever. Minnesota, after considerable roster change to start the season, has proven itself legitimate, not merely what could be.

It has the teams that could finish 1-2-3 in opponent's shooting, the best barometer for defense: Houston, San Antonio, Minnesota.

It has the newcomers' success stories. The great Memphis surge has surpassed even its own hopes, from the preseason goal to reach .500. Denver has jumped from punch line to the playoffs in one motion. The Jazz has been playoff regulars, except this isn't the same Jazz, making Utah just as much a fresh face with an upbeat storyline. Houston isn't fashionably feel-good, partly because it's neighbors are hogging that spotlight and partly because the Rockets are unglamorous in winning with grit, but 2003-04 has likewise been a commendable step forward for the Rockets.

It has the potential award winners, everywhere. Rookie of the Year: Carmelo Anthony is locked in a battle with LeBron James. Coach of the Year: Hubie Brown, Bzdelik, Flip Saunders and Sloan could all get votes. MVP: Kevin Garnett is pulling away, but Duncan remains in contention. Executive of the Year: Kevin McHale, Kiki Vandeweghe and Jerry West will undoubtedly get consideration from colleagues who vote on that trophy. We say hold a round-robin H-O-R-S-E tournament among the three, charge admission and make millions.

The Midwest could win -- even sweep -- the individual awards and the team award, although the Pacific doesn't need matching depth to ruin that outcome. It has already showed it could handle change and win. Minnesota, San Antonio, Dallas and Denver, after all, are winning after changing rosters. While they hit the core, Houston was the only team in the division to change coaches, going for Jeff Van Gundy. Stability. What a concept.

Together, the final version of the Midwest, before morphing into the Northwest and Southwest next season, has impressed at every level. For the ages, considering what has happened so far, and, in what really matters, for 2003-04.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.