The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Michael Malone Out in Denver. Plus, Florida’s National Championship Comeback and a Masters Preview With Scott Van Pelt.
08 Apr 2025
Russillo starts the show by reacting to the news that the Denver Nuggets have fired coach Michael Malone (1:10). Then, he‘s joined by Scott Van Pelt to recap the NCAA tournament and explain what made Florida so good (12:01). They then dive into the Masters, discussing why Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite and why Augusta is such a special place (38:08). Plus, Life Advice with Kyle (1:07:56)! Should I have stood for the national anthem at a bar? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Scott Van Pelt Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
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The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available at And listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Bonus edition of the Ryan Russillo podcast. We spent a good 45 minutes with Van Pelt talking about the Florida win over Houston and previewing the Masters.
We've got life advice, but news out of Denver in the NBA. Mike Malone out. Calvin Booth will not be extended. How we got here and what we should be talking about going into this NBA offseason. We had already taped the full pod this morning in Breaking News.
The Denver Nuggets had fired Mike Malone, their head coach, and also will not be extending the general manager, Calvin Booth, with just a handful of games to go and seeding in the West all over the place. It's a civil war up there in Denver. That was the quote that another team had said about the Nuggets to me before the season even started.
Just the way you get on the phone and gossip and what's going on here, what do you think could happen here, and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, that was something that I think a lot of people around the league knew. There's also a conversation because I'm sure some of you would think like, oh, now you tell us the Brian Curtis thing.
But there's also like a responsibility that you have with certain things where you wouldn't just like fire up a Sunday pod with Bill and be like, hey, another team told me it's like you just wouldn't necessarily do that. But now it's all out. It's all out on the table.
And so that was the way the description that was the description of the relationship between Mike Malone and Calvin Booth in the front office and head coach. I don't think this was just about this team being 3-7 in their last 10. I don't think it's just about them being an 11-13 record since the All-Star break. The defensive number is sinking again.
This felt like an untenable situation that apparently had just reached its breaking point and an unprecedented firing of a coach for a team that's still trying to figure out if they have a chance to pull something off here in the playoffs. But it hasn't felt that way, right? You've been watching them lately. I don't know. The two Minnesota games...
Um, even though, you know, the second Minnesota game was, was a double overtime game. So it's not like they necessarily like got smashed like they did in the first game against Minnesota. Um, so the first one really is more revealing perhaps of how they felt about this team, but there's a lot of stuff that we can go through.
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