When Andre Levingston signed SirValiant Brown, he touted him as an “assassin at the guard position.”
Seven games into the Premier Basketball League season and the 6-foot-1 guard was averaging 7.1 points per game.
So Levingston, the owner of the Halifax Rainmen, released the former NCAA Division 1 star yesterday.
“We only have 20 games in this league and we don’t have time to wait for him to get it together,” Levingston said.
“We need to try and get better, and we need to get better fast because we feel we can compete for a championship.
“We weren’t getting the production from his position and we needed to change some things.”
Brown, who finished second in NCAA scoring in 1999-2000 at George Washington, was sixth on the team in minutes, averaging 23 per game. He was 19-of-49 from the floor and his field goal percentage (.387) was worst on the team.
“In college, SirValiant took a lot of shots and scored a lot of points,” Levingston said. “But at the professional level, he needs to learn to be more efficient. He can score 15 to 20 points and not have to take 15 to 20 shots.
“It was just coming too slow.”
The Rainmen have not yet signed a replacement for Brown, but Levingston said he is “talking to some players” now. He wants to land a scoring guard to complement Jimmy Twyman, Kevin Hammack and Zachary Ramey.
It’s possible the Rainmen will have a replacement signed for tonight’s 7 p.m. home tilt with the Manchester Millrats, although Levingston wasn’t making any promises.
