It used to be said, until the winning campaign of Tracy McGrady last spring, that you didn't want to be named Most Improved Player in the NBA. More curse than blessing is the award's reputation.

Jalen Rose is reminding us why.Just two seasons back, Rose pipped the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki for MIP honors. Nowitzki has gone on to become one of the 10 best players in the league, or top 15 at worst. Rose?

Exiled to Chicago on Tuesday by Indiana, where Isiah Thomas couldn't get Rose ? who so loved Zeke as a kid ? to adopt a Bad Boys mentality.

Worse yet, Rose is stuck in basketball Siberia now, under contract until 2007.