Basketball On The Internet.

IT may still be April 1 but this is no April Fool's joke - well, not yet anyway - but the Sydney Kings are tomorrow expected to name Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze as their new NBL head coach.

Even before Gaze, 50, has coached his first high level men's game with Melbourne Tigers in the SEABL, the Kings, under new executive director Jeff Van Groningen, have rolled the dice the son can emulate his father and evolve into a top coach.

And hot on the heels of the Gaze announcement will come the news newly-naturalised two-time and reigning league MVP Kevin Lisch will be with the Kings in 2016-17.

Lisch (above) has had an offer "too good to refuse" and will leave behind an Illawarra Hawks program which was on the up with his quality presence.

While the Gaze announcement is expected at a press conference in Sydney tomorrow, Lisch already has said his goodbyes in Wollongong and immediately makes the Kings more respectable.

The talented combo-guard who should be on Australia's Olympic team to Rio is no gamble, unlike Gaze who is unproven at senior level.

Van Groningen clearly is expecting Drewey's pedigree as the son of a two-time NBL championship-winning and former Boomers Olympic coach in Lindsay to shine through and get him over the hump other players-to-coaches such as Scott Fisher, Shane Heal and Chris Anstey immediately encountered. 

Whether the new ownership, with its high expectations, is patient remains to be seen. But by already signing Lisch, it is clear it plans to put sufficient talent around the new coach for him to succeed.

Many at the Tigers will see Gaze's shift in allegiance as blasphemy considering he and his father have been the stalwarts at Melbourne since its days as Church (of England). Others though will see it as the logical extension of the family's relationship with Van Groningen, who cut his NBL adminstrative teeth at the Tigers.

Cairns too will be making major moves now import Torrey Craig has declared his intention to try his luck further afield.

A team which wasn't quite good enough to win it all two seasons back, improved with the addition of Mark Worthington (above) but playmaking import Markel Starks - while a talent - was no Scottie Wilbekin.

Worthington's body is sending him a message and 2016-17 looms as his final NBL season. (Fox, take note, and sign him early to the commentary team.)

That means the Taipans must rebuild a team to win NOW, which probably addresses why coach Aaron Fearne has been such a strong advocate for the new three-import rule.