Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is looking forward to catch some of the games in Group A that include Gilas Pilipinas, meet up with fellow coach Chot Reyes and forge a significant connection with his Filipino roots.

The Fil-American Spoelstra, who is assistant coach of the US national team, arrived in Manila with the rest of the squad on Monday, Aug. 21, and received a warm Filipino welcome ahead of the FIBA World Cup that the country is co-hosting starting Friday, Aug. 25.

Before heading to another team practice, though, Spoelstra added another pit stop to his visit by gracing 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.

“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,” Spoelstra said.

The Philippines will open its campaign against Dominican Republic on Friday, Aug. 25, at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan before heading to the Smart Araneta Coliseum to play Angola and Italy in Pool A.

Meanwhile, Team USA and the rest of the Group C nations – New Zealand, Greece and Jordan – will play at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The 52-year-old Spoelstra said he 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 the 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 added.

The last time Spoelstra visited the country in 2012, he has just won his first franchise title with Miami two months earlier.

More than a decade later, Spoelstra, son to a Filipina mother who traces her roots in San Pablo, Laguna, will be fittingly make his international coaching debut in the Philippines as part of head coach Steve Kerr’s staff.

“I couldn't believe it when I found out. I mean, first I had to pinch myself for a moment to be asked to be part of USA program, it's something that I have dreamt for a long time. It has an illustrious history and we’ve all followed history of Team USA program for a long time. That's some historic moment,” said Spoelstra.

“You just never really think you're going to have enough to be a part of it so it's dream come true and it's an amazing staff to be working with. Once we found out that it's going to be in Manila, I couldn't believe it,” he added.

For the past four years, Team USA has been reeling from its worst finish recent international competition with a full squad of NBA players after placing seventh in China.

But the Kerr-led US still decided to field a much less experienced team this year in reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, Anthony Edwards and Brandon Ingram to name a few, hoping to put together the next generation of talent for its country.