Halifax Rainmen - 2010-2011 Season

2010-2011 Season

At the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, the Rainmen re-signed Head Coach Les Berry and welcomed back veteran players Eric Crookshank and Desmond Ferguson to the roster. The Rainmen also re-signed 6'1 point guard Taliek Brown, who joined the team during the 2009-2010 season but did not play due to a family emergency.

During the pre-season, the Rainmen added Kavon Jones, Josh Dollard, Tajuan Porter, Mike Mercer, Marshall Brown and Tommy Mitchell. On January 14, the organization added former NBA Development League Forward/Centre James "Boo" Jackson to their lineup.

On January 22, the Rainmen announced the addition of Kirk Snyder to their roster but after playing three games between January 23–30, they waived him.

On January 23, Les Berry’s tenure as Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen ended by mutual consent. While the Rainmen had been pleased with Berry’s performance, the decision for his resignation came after he was presented with an opportunity to build his career outside of the sports arena.

During the week of January 24, former NBA player, scout and coach Mike Evans was named as head coach of the Rainmen for the remainder of the 2010-11 season. Throughout his basketball career, Evans played at Kansas State University, where he remains the all-time leading points scorer with 2,115 points. In 1978, the Denver Nuggets selected Evans as the 21st overall pick in the NBA draft. Over the next nine years, Evans enjoyed a successful career playing for the San Antonio Spurs, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets. During his career, Evans was regarded as one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA. After his retirement, Evans joined the Denver Nuggets’ coaching staff, where he later took on the role of Head Coach after the firing of Dan Issel. In 2006, Evans joined the Toronto Raptors organization where he worked as a scout, and was later promoted to the role of Assistant Coach.

The Rainmen ended their 2010-11 season as the fourth place team in the PBL after falling to the Lawton Fort Sill Cavalry in the final game of their series (1-2). In the first game of the series, the Cavalry beat the Rainmen in Halifax by one point in overtime. Four days later, the Rainmen beat the Cavalry by ten points in Oklahoma, where the Cavalry had not lost in three years.

After the controversy surrounding the Rochester Razorsharks's advancement through the PBL playoffs, the Rainmen joined the Saint John Mill Rats in disassociating themselves from the PBL within one hour after the playoffs ended. The decision to withdraw from the league was made upon the Rochester RazorSharks being crowned as PBL champions over the Lawton Fort-Sill Cavalry, with controversies over the officiating of games, as the RazorHawks and the league share a common owner. Rainmen owner Andre Levingston was quoted as saying, “I am appalled by the officiating that took place during the playoffs, and am ashamed of the PBL’s operations this season. I want nothing but the best for our city, our fans, our sponsors, and our players, and I can say with confidence that the best is no longer found in the PBL.” The Quebec Kebs followed suit one day later.

On May 12, 2011, the Rainmen, Mill Rats, and Kebs founded the National Basketball League of Canada.