They ask the question every autumn, but could this be the season when Worthing Thunder's silverware dreams finally come true?

Coach Gary Smith insists it could as he leads his team into a double-header this weekend.

Thunder host Solent Stars in their Trophy opener tonight (8pm), then go to the Brighton Centre tomorrow (6pm) for the second leg of the Subway South Coast Classic against the Bears.

Star American Lavoris Jerry has left the scene but Smith is confident his squad is up to the job.

New import Jamal Johnson, a 6ft 7ins forward out of Clayton State, Georgia, was due to fly in ready for the weekend while David Butterworth and Steven Gayle look excellent additions.

The last few years have offered their fair share of early season hope and plenty of heartbreak too for Thunder and their fans.

The low point last season was a second-half collapse in the Trophy final against Teesside Mohawks which left that silverware cabinet still bare.

Smith looked ahead to the new campaign and admitted: "I know we are getting stronger but the league is getting stronger at the same time.

"Every year I want to win something and every year we have got to a final but that's not enough.

"Last year the goal was to win something and be in the top four in the league, although I was actually thinking of first or second, not fourth.

"We've got a better chance of winning something this year because we've brought in good players.

"Everyone else is strengthening as well, which makes it competitive, but that's good for the league."

Gayle looks a super addition. He played his part in a lively first quarter against the Bears last Saturday and lifted things in the fourth with three successive steals off Bud Johnston.

Johnston replied with a clever reverse pass to send Andrew Alleyne to the hoop but Gayle certainly took the honours in that little head-to-head.

Smith added: "He's tough. With him and Danny (Hildreth) in there we've got two potent guards and they showed me last Saturday they can play well together.

"It will take a little bit of pressure off Danny not having to score double figures.

"David Butterworth is a class shooter and, at 6ft 6ins, it's hard to match up with him.

"I saw some good and some bad things last Saturday. At the beginning we ran and executed.

"The bad thing was when we got tired we stopped executing.

"If you stop executing against a team like Brighton you're going to suffer.

"They are a smart basketball club all round and for us to play against them is really good.

"I was happy though with how it went.

"I told the guys I wasn't looking at the score.

"I wanted to see how we gelled together, how we executed, and we did that great for about 12 minutes of the game.

"When we stopped making the ball do the work they punished us."

Smith admits the decision to release Nic O'Harabe was a tough one to make but Damon Harris gets the nod at centre coming off the bench.

Rani Malik is heading for a bench place at Thames Valley Tigers while James Brame's future at Worthing remains in the balance.

That is largely down to financial constraints.

Thunder do not have a headline sponsor for this season as yet and securing extra financial backing is key to their plans.

Smith admitted: "The budget is next to nothing but every year we manage to put together a decent team.

"We would be looking for a four-figure fee from anyone who wanted to sponsor us, though five figures would be nice of course."