The Los Angeles Lakers won their second NBA title in a row last season, but that seems to be an afterthought when you consider what happened over the summer. Possibly the most important off-season in sports history, a climax took place in July when Lebron James announced he would sign with the Heat. An underrated portion of this summer was a big shift in talent from the western conference to the east. The two big names the west lost were Amare Stoudemire (New York) and Carlos Boozer (Chicago). Travis Outlaw of Portland also changed conferences and moved to the Nets. It seems every year in the west the same teams are good. It is no fluke either when teams like Dallas, Utah, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Denver consistently have big years. The 2010-2011 season should be no different, albeit some hurdles along the way. 1.LA LakersThe defending champs had a very smooth off season in which they made no major acquisitions but did resign Derek Fisher and Shannon Brown. The team also drafted West Virginia forward Devin Ebanks. The Lakers should remain on top of a weakened western conference that lost tons of talent. Kobe Bryant and company will try to send Phil Jackson out with his fourth 3-peat as a head coach, making him the first to do so. The one x factor is still Andrew Bynum. Bynum has proven that if he remains healthy he is a very solid center with dominating type skills.2. Oklahoma City ThunderThe Thunder was the eighth seed last year and have only matured since their first round loss to the Lakers. Kevin Durant will make his case to be called the best in the game, which at this rate, will be easily achieved. Expect monster seasons from guards Russell Westbrook and James Harden as the Thunder look to have their best season since moving from Seattle. 3. Utah JazzAt face value some people would think this projection for Utah is too high. After all, they did lose Carlos Boozer to the Bulls via free agency. The Jazz however managed to gain All-Star Al Jefferson to replace Boozer and they still have an unchanged core consisting of Deron Williams, Mehemet Okur, and Andrei Kirelenko. Paul Milsap is ready to break out without Boozer blocking his way. The Jazz are primed to have a special season.4. San Antonio SpursThe Spurs have been the model of consistency for some time in the NBA. They always seem to find a way to win in the regular season and do well in the playoffs. Brazilian star Thiago Splitter, draft pick from 2007, arrives on a team that already consists of unselfish stars Manu Ginobli, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker. The Spurs get older each year but their win total continues to stay the same. There are certain guarantees in sports and the Spurs in the playoffs with 50 wins are one of them 5. Dallas Mavericks If talent is the only measure of who is good in the NBA, Dallas might very well be the one seed in the conference. Tyson Chandler is joined by Dirk Nowitzki, Caron Butler, Jason Terry, and Jason Kidd. The Mavs have always had rotten luck in the post season but every year is different and this one could be a potential breakthrough for Dallas. 6. Portland Trail BlazersThe Blazers have been a fairly good team over the last four years but have not come close to winning a title. They recently lost Travis Outlaw to the Nets in free agency. As usual Greg Oden, will not be 100% going into the year, not to mention Rudy Fernandez still wants out of Portland. The Blazers do have huge talent in Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, as well as a promising rookie in Luke Babbit. The Blazers could be a sleeper in the conference if they manage to stay healthy and consistent for the duration of the season. 7. Phoenix SunsDespite losing Amar’e Stoudemire this summer via free agency, the Suns are still a talented team with potential to have a good year. Steve Nash will always be a great point guard and the newly acquired Hedo Turkoglu should give the Suns a good core along with Jared Dudley. It seems every year the Suns are a playoff team and, while it will be a struggle, they should continue to be in postseason in 2011. 8. Denver NuggetsThe Nuggets had a solid season last year. They were the four seed in the west but did not make it out of the first round against Utah. This year it appears that their star forward Carmelo Anthony will inevitably be traded. The Nuggets still have some great talents in JR Smith, Al Harrington, Chauncey Billups and Chris “Birdman” Andersen. The Nuggets could be a surprise team this year because they could literally end up being the one seed or missing the post season, there are just to many variables to project Denver as the eighth seed. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a chance to turn some heads in 2010-11. MVP of Conference: Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder The Durantula is truly a fantastic basketball player. Last season he became the youngest scoring champion in league history, averaging 30.1 points per game with an impressive 47% field goal percentage. Durant personally carried the Thunder to the postseason last year and this year he will do the same, with a great supporting cast around him the Thunder are hopefully in for a great season. A great way of figuring out who should be MVP is to imagine a player’s team without him. The Thunder without Durant, is a bottom tier team fighting for the most ping pong balls in the lottery.