HEAD coach Paul James believes Worcester Wolves are “slowly starting to come together” after a summer of upheaval at the club.

Only Ashton Khan remained from last season’s squad as James put together “practically a brand new team” ahead of the 2016-17 British Basketball League campaign.

Having made so many changes, Wolves failed to hit the ground running and slipped outside the play-off places earlier this month.

However, they showed their potential with a superb victory at high-flying Newcastle Eagles and a thrashing of London Lions.

And James, who talked up his side’s chances of challenging for silverware at the start of the campaign, insisted he knew it would “take time” for his players to gel.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said James whose seventh-placed side face Surrey Scorchers at the University of Worcester Arena tomorrow (7.30pm).

“It was practically a brand new team with the exception of Ashton so it was going to take time for things to gel.

“We are still probably not where we want to be right now as far as performances go but we have had two very good performances back-to-back and it is something to build on.

“Certainly the players and the coaching staff are under no illusions as to where we are but we know we have got a talented bunch of players.

“It was going to take time for everybody to know their role but it is slowly starting to come together.”

Wolves’ chances of pulling off a victory over Newcastle appeared to be slim as they arrived on the back of three successive league defeats.

But the visitors upset the odds with a stunning 112-103 win and James felt his team “suffocated” their in-form opponents.

“There have not been too many teams who have gone up to Newcastle, scored 112 points and beaten them on their floor,” the Worcester boss said.

“I don’t think Newcastle knew what had hit them as we executed the game-plan really well.

“Everybody gave that winning effort and the bench did a fantastic job so there was no respite for Newcastle.

“We did what they do to other teams as we suffocated them all over the court so I was really delighted.”

After their heroics last Friday, Wolves then produced an equally impressive showing in beating London Lions 100-71 at the Copper Box in the capital.

Maurice Walker’s 26-point haul saw him earn a place in BBL’s All Star Five with captain Marek Klassen getting a spot on the bench.

“These kinds of performances have been what we have been waiting for,” James added.

“It has taken time but we now know what we can do when we do those little things well. Hopefully we can move on from here.”