by Matt Rooney
Last week we touched on the worst NSL teams ever, so continuing the series, here are the 7 through 12 spots of best NSL teams of all time (not including Tourney 3 2019 where teams only played 1-2 games).
12. Team Charlie '20 (5-2)
Charlie Lewis put together a really solid team for the 2020 season, drafting Henri Rousseau, Chris Ng, and Zach Goldman. Preseason, there was a lot of attention and drama on the relationship between Zach and his captain regarding who was the better player and who would play more minutes.
However, these qualms died out as soon as the season started. Team Charlie beat Team Cam (David, Yagev, Jack and Cam) in a 52-32 thrashing the second week and didn't look back. They stayed in first for the next few weeks of the season until being passed by Team Kyle near the season's end.
Charlie, Zach and Chris all played well, but Henri Rousseau absolutely carried this team offensively. 2020 Henri had some of the best performances on that side of the ball in NSL history. He averaged 30.57 PPG and scored 30+ points in 5/7 games, including a 42 point outburst vs Team Ian.
Henri and Chris Ng (12 RPG, 3 APG, 47% 2FG) were named to the All-Star game, and Zach Goldman (8.6 PPG, 8.9RPG) really broke out this year, going from a solid role player to a legit contributor.
All in all, this was a great team who would have had as good a shot to win the championship as any if the season didn't end early due to COVID.
11.Team Ernesto '19.1 (5-1)
Out of 7 teams in tourney 1 back in 2019, only two had winning records - Team Ernesto and Team Greg, and Team Ernesto had a net rating that was 5 points higher than Team Greg. Basically, they were a regular season wagon.
Ernesto originally drafted David Speidel with the first overall pick. But, Spider famously dropped out just weeks before the season which landed him in the NSL doghouse for 3 years before Rooney finally let him enter the draft again this season.
Josh Davis replaced David Speidel and was everything Ernesto could have hoped for and more. Josh went on to average 29.8 PPG and 8 RPG on 50/35/64 splits on his way to winning NSL MVP. JD was flanked by Keyur Patel (17.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG), Eric Zhang (5.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG) and Ernesto Perez (10 PPG), who all played up to their potential.
Anyways, Team Ernesto was incredibly dominant, winning their first 5 games and getting the valuable first round bye in the NSL playoffs. Their run ended here, however, as they were steamrolled by Team Hano (Hano, Matt, Nathan, Ian) in the second round of the playoffs, 66-51.
If not for the poor playoff performance, Team Ernesto would be higher up on this list.
10. Team Hano '19.1 (3-3)
You're probably wondering how a .500 team could be this high on the list. Well, Team Hano steamrolled through the playoffs as a 4 seed on a way to winning the championship. They won 46-38 vs Tameek and Team Eli in R1, 66-51 vs Josh and Team Ernesto in R2, and then 56-45 vs Soup and Team Idi in the Finals. The sheer playoff dominance was what gave Team Hano a spot on this list.
Hano Garcia - who missed most of the tournament due to injury - drafted Matt Rooney, Nathan Greenstein and Ian Harris to his squad. In a league full of lots of new players, Hano went with the vets and it paid off big time. They alternated wins and losses through the regular season, and then proceeded to flip the switch come playoff time.
Matt was the assist and rebound leader of the league, and averaged 30 PPG, 4.5 APG and 14.8 RPG. Nathan played second fiddle and had a great tourney, averaging 17.3 PPG and 9.7 RPG. Hano was hampered by injuries, but still averaged 5 PPG and 6.7 RPG. Finally, Ian brought his usual Marcus Smart vibes, and averaged 5.2 PPG and 5 RPG on 33 3FG%.
As one of 4 NSL champion teams, Team Hano deserves a spot on this list.
9. Team Yagev '21 (10-6)
When healthy, 2021 Team Yagev was one of the best defensive teams to ever take the court at 82 Fair Oaks Ave. Led by Yagev Levi and Jon Hammer, they had the best perimeter and post defenders in the entire league. After beating Team Henri by 14 in the NSL opener (Thomas Rooney had 16 on 66% shooting, Yagev had 24 points and 9 rebounds), they lost to Team Matt by 11 in a horrendous offensive display, losing 37-26. What made matters worse was Jon Hammer broke his elbow, so Yagev signed Nov Levi to fill the massive void left by Jon Hammer. On top of this, Kenny Brown was really upset with his minutes, so this looked to be another classic Yagev season full of injuries, losses and chemistry issues.
However, 2021 Yagev was a much different Yagev then we have seen in the past. He just wouldn't let his team fall. They continued to win games, and Thomas Rooney, the ROY, had a big time buzzer beater in a mid-season game vs big bro #2, giving Team Yagev a 6-2 record.
Despite the wins, the Kenny issues were still apparent. Both Yagev and Kenny seemed to be in the wrong, and neither would budge. So, Yagev made some calls to other GMs, and was finally able to settle on a deal that shipped Kenny Brown out (shown below).
Charlie for Kenny wasa huge win for Team Yagev, as Charlie brought none of the chemistry issues that came along with Kenny and went on to average 8.3 PPG and 9.5 RPG. But was it really that great of a trade? Or did Yagev just help create the team that would later beat his own in the NSL Finals?
Anyways, Team Yagev went 4-4 the rest of the way, finishing in 2nd place at 10-6. In the best season of his career, Yagev went on to make the All-Star game, make NSL First-Team, win DPOY and MIP. He averaged 19 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 3.6 APG. As I mentioned above, Thomas Rooney won ROY and averaged 10.5 PPG on 33% from deep. Jon Hammer - who returned in time for the playoffs - averaged 11.2 PPG and 10.5 RPG. Nov Levi went for 14.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG.
Team Yagev won a hard-fought series vs. Team Hano in the first round, prevailing 2-1, as the Yagev/Hammer/Thomas trio was just too good for Hano, Gabo and Will to overcome.
The 2021 NSL finals wound up being one of the best playoff series' in NSL history. After winning Game 1 vs Team Matt 62-56 (Hammer, Tom and Yagev all scored 17+), they dropped Game 2, 55-50, after losing a double digit second half lead. If I told you that Thomas would score 24 and Hammer would score 12 in Game 3, you would probably assume that Team Yagev won it given how good their defense was. But, Yagev famously shot 0-19 from the field and that was all she wrote - Team Yagev lost, 48-40.
2021 Team Yagev was a legendary team that had so many big moments throughout the season. If they were able to defeat Team Matt and win the championship, they would be a top 5 team on this list. Major props to Yagev as captain for shipping Kenny for Charlie and for selecting Thomas Rooney 9th overall after players such as Chris Ng and Will Brown, as those were both really good moves.
8. Team Kyle '20 (7-1)
Team Kyle is the second and final COVID league team to make this list. Captain Kyle Bloom drafted Matt Rooney, Hano Garcia and Grant Yee to join him on the Dragons. At draft time, some of these selections were considered a bit suspect: Matt over DHS, Hano and Grant over Zach and Dorval. By the end of the season though, it looked like Kyle had made the right call on these.
The Dragons struggled a bit out of the gate, dropping the opening game to Henri and Team Charlie (and almost dropped the second game after a massive comeback by Team Ian shown below), but, they figured it out and went on to win the next 7 straight games.
Hano Garcia hurt his foot when Team Kyle was 3-1, so Kyle signed Gabo Garcia to a minimum deal to take his place. Throughout the season, there were rumors that Kyle was trying to ship Hano or Grant to land Yagev or Zach, but ultimately, he stood pat - which turned out, once again, to be the right decision.
Their formula for winning was simple: lead the league in PPG, APG, RPG, SPG and 2FG% and the wins would follow. They also attempted and made over twice as many threes than the 2nd place team in the standings, Team Charlie.
Matt led the way, averaging 28.8 PPG, 5 APG, 18.3 RPG, and 4.5 SPG on 51/37/65 splits. Hano went for 7.7 PPG, 3.33 APG and 11 RPG along with bringing elite defense. Gabo averaged 6.3 PPG and 8.8 RPG on 55/0/50 splits. Grant, who made the ASG along with Rooney, averaged 13.6 PPG on 36/22/38. Finally, captain Kyle went for 1.7 PPG and 4 RPG, but sadly, he went 0-12 from deep on the season.
7. Goonsquad '18 (6-0)
Goonsquad was one of those teams that just fit together so well. Comprised of Henri Rousseau, Erick HF, Ian Harris and Will Brown, this team wasn't jump-off-the-table talented, but they all flourished in their roles. Many NSL experts had Goonsquad 4th or 5th in NSL pre-season power rankings, but they were in first in the standings the entire season.
Henri was the go-to-guy on offense, as everything went through him on that side of the ball. Erick HF was a dominant big man who played as hard as he could every single game. Will Brown and Ian Harris brought insane energy and high-level defense. 2018 was definitely Ian's prime, as he was a borderline all star during these years before fading completely over the past few seasons.
Anyways, after starting off the season with a 48-42 win vs the Kingdom, Goonsquad rattled off 5 more wins, as nobody could match their chemistry. Henri had a breakout season, and it really looked like nobody would beat them.
There were some really good teams that year:
Eric, Keyur, Aidan and Matt on Zhang Dynasty
DHS, Chris, Grant, Cam on Royalty
Yagev, Jack, Nathan, Hano, Zach on the Kingdom
Hammer, Dorval, Sunny, Sam on the Apollos (okay yeah, not that good)
But, it was a never a question as to who the best team was: Goonsquad.
Sadly, this season got squashed in May as the league wanted to expand and add more players and teams.
Even though we remember Goonsquad as a perfectly constructed team, we never really got to know how great they would would truly be.
(I bet Henri would say this is his favorite team he has ever played on)
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