Basketball On The Internet.

OK, so Kirk Penney ISN’T Kirk Douglas, the quintessential Spartacus. He’s still going to be at the head of the revolution the NBL will undergo this season.

New Zealand Breakers’ 2009 league MVP and 2011 NBL Championship star will not only be back but unexpectedly in Hawks colours.

There’s so much excitement in the Illawarra you’d expect thousands of Romans to start running home toward Sin City.

Bear in mind, the potential starters now for Illawarra will be Rhys Martin, Kevin Lisch, Kirk Penney (below), Oscar Forman and A.J. Ogilvy.

You want to talk about firepower?

And yes, that's without the club’s reigning MVP Tim Coenraad in the starting quintet!

Throw in Tyson Demos, Kevin White and Larry Davidson and you know it … there’s still room for a second import.

Got a feeling new coach Rob Beveridge will be shedding some of his “defensive coach” reputation with this group.

Beveridge and Penney have history dating back to the Athens Olympics and with a young child in the Penney family mix now, being closer to home makes sense.

Penney, 34 and 196cm, is New Zealand basketball’s equivalent of Andrew Gaze in terms of basketball success and notoriety, starting at four years in the Big Ten with Wisconsin. In his junior and senior years he was All-Big Ten and he has some subsequent NBA minutes on his burgeoning resume.

A four-time NBL All First Team selection, Penney also has starred in Turkey, Lithuania, Israel and Spain.

Arch rival Sydney (Rome?), has brought back Josh Childress and Julian Khazzouh, then introduced Marcus Thornton, Steve Markovic and Jeromie Hill to accompany Tom Garlepp, Jason Cadee and Angus Brandt.

Can’t wait to see Spartacus, under the Hawks' crest, heading toward the land of the Kings in 2015-16.