Towering ambition: Morin ready to dominate the paint

With basketball experience spanning France, the United States, Spain and Japan, Yannis Morin brings a well-travelled resume to Australia.

The French forward joins the South East Melbourne Phoenix as the third piece in an entirely new import trio for the Hungry Jack's NBL27 Season.

So what does the 208-centimetre big man bring to a squad with Championship ambitions? Coach Josh King has a clear brief.

"I need to be like the tower of the team," Morin told Phoenix Media.

"My experience; going to be important for that. I think the coach wants me mainly in the paint. I need to set up and secure - first of all in defence, and offensively too.

"My teammate can count on me to put up screens, put my intensity and my energy on the court ... dominate the paint and help my teammates get a good shot."

Morin's most recent season came in Japan, where he averaged 14.7 points and 7.4 rebounds across a demanding 55-game campaign.

King expects the 32-year-old to play a key role alongside the likes of Jordan Hunter, Akech Aliir and Hunter Goodrick.

He projects as a likely starter on paper, but King's approach centres on the squad as a whole, rather than a fixed five.

"I understand that players and fans and the League loves the starting five. If I'm being honest, I don't care about who the starting five is. I want a bunch of really good players on my team where we're really hard to prepare for," he said.

"With that being said, he'll (Morin) compete for a lot of minutes out there on the floor, and there's a lot of good players he has to go against in order to earn his spot.

"Yannis can play both the five and the four. Jordy (Hunter) can play the five and the four. Akech (Aliir) can play the five and the four. I think Hunter Goodrick can play the five and the four. De'Shawn Schwartz is kind of the one guy in that big man club that's probably more of a 4-3.

"We really like Yannis because of his versatility. He's got a lot of experience playing all over the world.

"He was in Japan the last two years, but after each of those seasons he filled in for really good ACB clubs in Spain. This past year he was in Badalona playing with Ricky Rubio. The year before last he was in Tenerife where Patty Mills was, and the year before that he was playing in an ACB final after his year in France.

"We really, really love the experience that Yannis is going to bring to the South East Melbourne Phoenix."

Morin joins Nathan Sobey, Angus Glover, Hunter, Skylar Mays, Schwartz, Tanner Krebs, Dash Daniels, Goodrick, Aliir, Ellis Biggar, Daniel Foster and Patrick Ryan on the Phoenix's NBL27 roster.