Heal will pair with Franklin, his backcourt partner when the Kings ended their title drought in 2002/03.

"Above everything, Kavossy is a fantastic defender which helps me because I'm certainly not at the stage of my career where I'll be chasing the best Americans around and trying to shut them down as well as running the team," Heal said.

"The other thing he does well is he can score.

"The last time we played together, we both scored around the 20-point mark.

"He can pass the ball, he can carry the ball and play a little of the point guard as well.

"So he's multi-dimensional which is exactly what we need."

The Dragons' first pre-season match is against the Cairns Taipans in Melbourne on Wednesday.

They make their NBL debut away to the NZ Breakers on September 26.

"My hopes are really high for the season and getting Kavossy obviously helps," said Heal.

"It's hard when you're starting from scratch because everyone else has some sort of history and a team who knows how they play together.

"But I really like the talent we've got."

© 2006 AAP