WORCESTER Wolves director of basketball Paul James believes his new-look side has got what it takes to earn the club more success this season.
Wolves kick off their new BBL campaign on Friday (September 26) with a mouth-watering opening league match at reigning champions Newcastle Eagles.
A busy summer off the court has seen the club change ownership with the official take over by the University of Worcester and several new players coming in to create a new-look side.
Following the departures of Zaire Taylor and Will Creekmore, Wolves have brought in Chavis Homes, Remi Dibo, Donatas Visockis, Robert Thurman and Sean Park during the summer as boss James aims to lift the league title with Worcester for the first time.
“I like the balance of the team,” James told the Observer. “The new players we’ve got here look very keen and hungry.
“I think we have the potential to reach the heights of last season. We’ve got some big men this year in Robert Thurman, Donatas Visockis and Remi Dibo who can play in multiple positions and Chavis Holmes who has come in as Zaire Taylor is every bit as good as player.
“With those guys and the players returning from last year, all in all if we can gel quickly then I think we will be a stronger team than we were last season.
“We want to be consistent enough as a team to be challenging for the league. If I am basing this team on last year’s then I think we will be just as good if not better.”
And a confident James said this year’s BBL Championship could be the most open in the league’s history.
“Last year was the best league we’ve had for in the BBL for years with so many teams in contention going into Christmas and the New Year period,” he added.
“And I think this year could be more of the same if not more teams in contention – so getting a good start is going to be an imperative.”