Miami Heat greet Gilas Pilipinas in Florida

MANILA, Philippines – Currently in Miami, Florida to prepare for the upcoming 2014 FIBA World Cup, Gilas-Pilipinas received a warm welcome greeting from the city’s NBA squad.

The Miami Heat, four-time defending NBA Eastern Conference Champions, welcomed the Philippine national basketball team to South Florida through their official Twitter account.

Welcome to Miami, @coachot and @smartgilasph! We hope your training camp for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is going well!

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) July 28, 2014

In response, Gilas head coach Chot Reyes sent a reply, while also indicating his desire for members of the Heat organization to drop by and help train the team, which is currently practicing with naturalized NBA big man Andray Blatche.

@MiamiHEAT Yes it is! Thanks for the welcome. Hope you could drop by so we can visit

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) July 28, 2014

The Heat’s head coach, Erik Spoelstra, is half-Filipino and has visited the Philippines many times in the past.

His presence in Gilas’ training camp would surely be welcomed with open arms, as the team prepares to embark for a journey to Madrid, Spain.

Furthermore, some of the players of Gilas, namely LA Tenorio, Jayson Castro, and Beau Belga, got to meet and take pictures with the latest addition to the Heat’s roster, Luol Deng.

But of course, the Philippine team also made sure to stay on track for what they set out to do in South Beach.

RT"@MIKEVILLARisAKO: Gilas Never Stops.After 2 tough practices, coaches still hard at work, reviewing practice video pic.twitter.com/av4bSHTcjG”

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) July 29, 2014

– Rappler.com