By NIKOLE JAVIER
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is looking forward to catching some of the games of the Gilas Pilipinas and meet up with fellow coach Chot Reyes and forge a significant connection with his Filipino roots.
“It’s gonna be exciting. I’m going to try and catch their game. You know, coach Tim (Cone) and I have connected and I hope to meet up with coach Chot as well but I haven’t seen a whole lot of them. But I’m looking forward to watching them play and watching them compete,” he concluded.
The half Filipino-half American US national team assistant coach arrived in Manila with the squad on Monday and received a warm Filipino welcome ahead of the FIBA World Cup that the country is co-hosting starting Friday.
Before heading to another team practice, though, Spoelstra added another pit stop to his visit and graced an NBA Philippines basketball camp for 40 Filipino youth and college players at the Kerry Sports Manila at Shangri-La The Fort in Taguig City on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
The Philippines will open its campaign against Dominican Republic on Friday, Aug. 25, at the Philippine Arena before heading to the Araneta Coliseum to play Angola and Italy in Pool A.
Meanwhile, Team USA’s group phase will be taking place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City after landing in Group C against New Zealand, Greece and Jordan.
The 52-year-old Spoelstra was glad to be back and become involved in the grassroots level of Philippine basketball after dreaming and nearly playing in the PBA growing up.
“Obviously, growing up my goal and mission was to play in the PBA and that has always been a dream of mine. My family would send VHS tapes of PBA games and I would see just how crazy the crowds were and I’d say ‘I wanna do that’,” Spoelstra said.
“That’s always part of my plans and I ended up playing overseas for couple of years and I was going to eventually come home here and play but I kinda rerouted to Miami. But once we started going here with NBA to do clinics and camps, that’s what we’re really want to be involved in, in grassroots level,” he furthered.
The last time Spoelstra visited the country in 2012, he has just won his first franchise title with Miami two months earlier.
