After conducting training camp at UC Irvine since their return to Los Angeles in 2016, the Rams this year are moving preseason workouts to Loyola Marymount, the team announced Tuesday.

Will starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, who wants his contract adjusted, be there when training camp opens in late July?

After watching Stafford go through the first workout of organized-team activities open to the media Tuesday, coach Sean McVay was asked if he was confident Stafford would be there for the start of training camp.

“I’m confident that he’s been out here leading the way,” McVay said.

If that sounds noncommittal, well, at least McVay is consistent.

Stafford, 36, is scheduled to earn $31 million this season and carry a salary-cap number of $49.5 million, according to Overthecap.com.

Stafford has two additional years left on the extension he signed in 2022 after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title, but the salaries of $27 million and $26 million are not guaranteed, according to the website.

During the draft, McVay confirmed a report that Stafford wanted his contract adjusted to include guaranteed salary beyond this season. He also expressed confidence the Rams and Stafford would come to an agreement on his contract situation and that he would participate in OTAs.

“There’s nothing that’s more important than making sure that he feels appreciated,” McVay said at the time, “and he knows how much we love him and want him to lead the way and, you know, I think that the commitment that I think he wants to have can be reciprocated and we want to work toward figuring that out.”

In April, when the Rams opened their offseason workout program, Stafford was not among players made available to reporters. He was not made available to reporters Tuesday, and his availability during OTA workouts is to be determined, a team spokesman said.

“He’s here and we appreciate that and he knows that,” McVay said. “I’ve had good conversations with him about football, and anything other than that really just going to keep it in house.”

Stafford appeared sharp during drills and 11-on-11 situations. The quarterback’s contract situation is not affecting his preparation or play, receiver Cooper Kupp said.

“There’s been no change in his attitude, the way he comes in and approaches things, the way he’s interacting with guys in meetings, coaches and with guys out here,” Kupp said. “He’s a pro’s pro. He’s going to be out here and be the best version of Matthew for the team.

“And so, whatever’s going on with that, he’s not letting it affect anything about what the goal is for the L.A. Rams this year.”

It seems unfathomable the Rams would not work out an agreement with Stafford before training camp.

The 15-year veteran bounced back from injuries in 2022 and a thumb injury early last season and keyed the Rams’ unexpected run to the playoffs.

Rams quarterbacks Matthew Stafford, left, and Jimmy Garoppolo walk and talk Tuesday during their organized team activity.

(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)

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In March, the Rams signed veteran Jimmy Garoppolo to be Stafford’s backup but Garoppolo is suspended for the first two games — against the Detroit Lions and Arizona Cardinals — for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy when he played for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Stetson Bennett, a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, is participating in the offseason program after spending his rookie season on the NFL’s non-injury/illness list because of an unspecified issue. Bennett was not made available to reporters Tuesday.

“Stetson’s had a couple good days and it’s been good having him out here,” McVay said.

Quarterback Dresser Winn also is on the roster.

The depth chart for the opener against the Lions will come into clearer focus during training camp.

At Loyola Marymount, players, coaches and staff will return to living in dorms for several weeks. That will be a change from the last several years. The Rams were in dorms at Irvine for a few years, but during the last several years they stayed at a luxury hotel in Newport Beach and bused to the Irvine campus.

That travel time counted against the hours teams are allowed to practice and meet under terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

Fans will be allowed to attend select practices, the team announced, but the footprint at Loyola Marymount is smaller than Irvine.

“Our organization constantly looks to evolve our operations, and calling LMU home for these few weeks presents incredible opportunities for this new chapter of Rams Training Camp,” Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer said in a statement.

Etc.

Running back Kyren Williams will not participate in OTAs because of a foot issue, but he will be ready for training camp, McVay said. … Linebacker Ernest Jones IV was not in attendance because of an excused absence, McVay said. … New guard Jonah Jackson, who played last season for the Lions, is not participating in 11-on-11 situations because of “some things after the season” that made him “not quite ready,” for full participation, McVay said.

DENVER — The notion that the Minnesota Timberwolves’ magic began and ended with Rudy Gobert was so hilariously apropos.

They were down 20 points against the defending champion Denver Nuggets with 22 minutes left to play when the NBA’s most divisive player sparked a turnaround for the ages.

History was on the Nuggets’ side, with teams that led at halftime by at least 15 points in Game 7s having gone 21-0 to that point (Indiana had joined that list against the Knicks earlier in the day). Charles Barkley was too, as the Hall of Famer and TNT analyst was calling for Minnesota coach Chris Finch to “take Gobert out the game.”

But then Nikola Jokić lost Gobert on the left wing, and Karl-Anthony Towns found the French big man with a dump-off pass for a dunk with 9:51 left in the third quarter that most observers — yours truly included — thought very little of at the time.

A quick confession about something that happened on press row right around that time: For the first time in 20 years covering the Association, I prematurely booked my flight and hotel in the wrong city for the subsequent series because, well, it just felt like it was over. Off to Denver for Game 1 of the West Finals against Dallas on Wednesday.

Or … not.

By the time this slog of a game reached the 7:43 mark of the fourth quarter, when Gobert buried that miraculous spinning fadeaway from the left side that was so unexpectedly Jokić-esque, the Timberwolves had gone on a 41-17 run that featured all that was so good about their resilient program.

The suffocating defense that had come to define them was back, with the Nuggets missing 15 of 21 shots during that span (Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. were a combined 1 of 8). Meanwhile, Minnesota turned the tide on the rebounding front in the process — the Wolves were outrebounded 29-18 in the first half, but had a 17-7 edge in that stretch.

“It showed us who we are, because the coaches believed in us even though at halftime — even in the third — we were down 20. They were like, ‘Just keep making runs. Keep making runs,’” said Anthony Edwards, who had just four points in the first half, but finished with 16 points (on 6 of 24 shooting), eight rebounds, seven assists and a plus-11 mark. “And It showed us who we are, man. Once we really lock in on the defensive end — because offensively we played okay — but when we really lock in on the defensive end, man, we are a hell of a team to beat.”

The Timberwolves offense that had sputtered all night was suddenly alive because of the defense. Nearly every player of significance pitched in for a 15-of-25 shooting effort that propelled the Timberwolves to their first West finals appearance since 2004 after their 98-90 win. But that shot by Gobert was the chef’s kiss, the kind of lasting image that should spawn a basketball section in the Louvre.

MY GOODNESS, BIG RU. pic.twitter.com/S2XEQaummo

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

To hear Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns discuss it afterward, when they sat side-by-side at the news conference and hilariously recapped the way the game had turned around, was to understand the cohesion of personality and personnel that has played such a big part in their hoops story to this point.

“The Rudy Gobert turnaround was crazy,” Towns proclaimed.

“When Rudy hit the turnaround, I was like, ‘Yeah, we’ve probably got ‘em,” Edwards said with a laugh. “I know that’ll kill the whole — that’ll kill everything. Big shout-out to Big Ru’, man. He hit a turnaround on their ass.”

“On God’s day, too,” said Towns, who has so impressively evolved from being the Timberwolves’ franchise centerpiece player to this selfless and capable No. 2 behind Edwards. “On God’s day, too.”

It wasn’t just the Lord’s day, though. It was the 20-year anniversary of Minnesota’s Game 7 win over Sacramento in the West semifinals, the last time the franchise made it to the West finals. Kevin Garnett, who just so happened to turn 48 on Sunday as well, had famously promised to bring all the proverbial artillery to that Game 7 showdown against the Kings.

This decisive moment, more than anything, was a case of the Nuggets forgetting there are 48 minutes in an NBA game.

Murray came out swinging, scoring 24 of his 33 points in the first half after an atrocious Game 6 performance in which he’d missed 14 of 18 shots. If he was going to keep playing like that, and if Edwards was going to keep letting all those Nuggets double teams take the ball out of his hands when it mattered most, the rest was fait accompli. But then the redemptive arc took hold.

Towns, who so many had pegged as the odd man out when the Timberwolves’ salary cap sheet became a point of focus after the Gobert trade in the summer of 2022, carried the otherwise-awful Wolves offense throughout while doing a capable job guarding Jokić.

He hit 8 of 14 shots in all for 23 points, with 12 rebounds to boot, while posting a plus-10 mark. As Edwards walked with Towns to their joint news conference, he made a bold statement that should be considered within the full context of the Nuggets environment.

“They didn’t have no answer for Karl,” Edwards said as he walked. “Karl’s the baddest big on the planet.”

Here in this Ball Arena, where Jokić has won three of the past four MVP awards and where Denver’s 2023 title broke a half-century championship drought for the franchise, Edwards decided to declare Towns’ place among the best bigs of them all.

Yet as salvation stories go, none of the Timberwolves’ can compare to Gobert. Even with his subpar first half that re-sparked the conversation about whether he is a winning player — a debate that has raged on for years now and led to his unwelcome distinction as the league’s most overrated player in the latest The Athletic player poll — Gobert found a way to have the last laugh.

He finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a plus-10 rating. Including the first round, when the Timberwolves swept the Phoenix Suns, Gobert now has a plus-minus mark of plus-111 that is the best on the team (Edwards is second at plus-103). But sure, Chuck, tell us again how Gobert is unplayable when it matters most.

“I don’t watch those guys, so I don’t know what they talk about, but they have to talk about something,” Gobert said when asked about Barkley’s commentary. “But yeah, I’m glad (Timberwolves) coach (Chris Finch) didn’t listen to his advice.”

Of all the Timberwolves folks who represented their team’s willingness to fight, Finch might top the list. He tore his patellar tendon after a collision with Mike Conley in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Suns, then spent the second round sitting in the second row while assistant coach Micah Nori assumed the vast majority of the sideline duties.

But late in Game 7 against the Nuggets, when every possession ran the risk of deciding the game and every play call carried that same weight, Finch suddenly sprung up from his chair to ensure his voice was heard. He has been at it with this group since the middle of the 2020-21 season, when he left his job as a Toronto Raptors assistant coach to take over for the fired Ryan Saunders. Edwards was midway through his first season at that time, and the clear connection between the 22-year-old rising star and Finch has everything to do with the historic state of Timberwolves affairs currently unfolding.

“It starts with our head coach — Coach Finch,” Edwards said afterward. “He comes in every day, comes to work, gets there early. He’s  thinking of ways to get Ant and KAT open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Mike and Rudy open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Jaden (McDaniels) involved. He’s trying to keep Naz (Reid) in it to get him involved. He’s just a great coach. And he don’t sugarcoat anything.

“If Kat f—–’ up, he’s going to get on KAT. If I’m f—–’ up, he’s going to get on me. If Rudy f—–’ up, he going to get on anybody that’s messing up throughout the game, and I think that’s what makes him the best coach in the NBA, to me. Because no matter who it is, no matter how high up on the pole, he’s going to get on you from start to finish. It starts with the head of the snake, and he’s the head of our snake. We all look up to him, listen to him, and he (does) a great job of making sure we’re ready to go every night.”

Finch, who spent the the 2016-17 season in Denver as an associate head coach alongside the Nuggets’ Michael Malone, knows as well as any what this Game 7 win means.

“It’s a big moment for our club,” Finch said. “Everybody talks about the last 30 years (in Minnesota), which mean nothing to me. But it does mean a lot to a lot of people to see this team, (who) root for this team. The city is behind this team. And to beat a team like Denver on their home floor the way we did, of course it was going to mean a lot.”

(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokić: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

The 2024 Eastern and Western Conference Finals matchups are set. The top-seeded Boston Celtics host the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers to open the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night. 

The No. 3 seed Minnesota Timberwolves defeated last year’s champion, the Denver Nuggets, and will welcome the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

BIGGEST CONCERNS FOR EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

Kristaps Porziņģis appeared in 57 regular season games in his first year with the Celtics. However, his health continues to be a point of concern. He suffered an injury in Boston’s first round series with the Miami Heat. He missed the entire conference semifinals, but ESPN reported that Porziņģis will likely sit out Games 1 and 2 of the conference finals.

TIMBERWOLVES’ POSTSEASON PARTY CONTINUES AS ANTHONY EDWARDS PLAYS BEYOND HIS YEARS

The Pacers appear to enter the series close to full strength, but Indiana’s defense will likely be the team’s biggest concern in the conference finals. The Pacers will need to employ a strong defensive game plan to try and slow the Celtics’ high-powered offense.

The top-seeded Boston Celtics will host the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers to open the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

BIGGEST CONCERNS FOR WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

Two-time NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards has taken the league by storm this postseason. The Dallas Mavericks coaching staff will be tasked with finding a way to contain Edwards. 

Karl-Anthony Towns, the top pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, appeared to take a major step forward in the conference semifinals. Rudy Gobert recently won his third NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and while Gobert’s defensive prowess speaks for itself, the Timberwolves as a whole will have to contend with the Mavericks’ two-headed monster — Kyric Irving and Luka Doncic.

The final four teams are set for the NBA Finals. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

While the Timberwolves outlasted the Nuggets in the semifinals, the construction of the Mavs roster presents a much different challenge.

WHEN ARE THE CONFERENCE FINALS?

The Eastern Conference Finals begins on Tuesday night at the TD Garden in Boston. Game 2 tips off on May 23, before the series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 and 4.

The Timberwolves hold home court in the West and will host Game 1 on May 22. Game 2 is scheduled for May 24. 

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