Introducing a dog to three cats?

[Ashes Lol]

We have a German Shepherd dog, he's ten years old and loves to chase things. He's caught and killed a few gophers. He's good with other dogs, good with people. Though he will get defensive around older men sometimes. He will chase small animals, though. We had a rabbit in my room once, and the dog got in and instead of killing the rabbit, he just slobbered all over it.
We took in a mother cat and her two babies (four babies, but we found homes for the other two). The kittens are maybe seven months old, and when they see the dog through the glass, they'll hiss and jolt away. When the dog sees them, he'll start barking. He will also sit in front of the door where the cats are when they're not running around the house and sniff under the wood for a long time.

We want to try to get them to become friends because we've had a couple close calls where the dog is let out of a room when the cats are still out. I know he would chase them, but I don't know if he would hurt them or how scared the cats would get. How do I get a dog and three cats to become friends so they can both walk through the house without worry?

Any advice helps, he's a big dog and when he's excited he may be hard to control, and the cats will scratch to get away at times.
Any tips are awesome! Thanks in advance.