Spain players know all too well how difficult it is to win titles in international basketball. Since their famous gold-medal win at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, the Spaniards have had to settle for runners-up finishes at EuroBasket 2007 in Madrid and at last year’s Beijing Games.
The EuroBasket in Poland – Europe’s qualifying event for next year’s FIBA World Championship in Turkey – will be an enormous challenge and that’s especially true with key players no longer in the mix. “We have two important absences, with Jose Manuel Calderon (recuperating from injuries) and Carlos Jimenez (retired from national team), but we will all try to contribute in order to overcome those absences,” Spain star Rudy Fernandez said. It is also still unclear if Pau Gasol will play, though recent comments by the Los Angeles Lakers superstar indicate he wants to be in the squad.
“I hope and wish that Pau will be in Poland with us,” Fernandez said. Fernandez just completed his rookie season in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers.
“But he (Pau) is not a machine,” Fernandez said. “Pau always wants to play for the national team but perhaps physically, he may not be able to. I know from experience, and after 82 games of the (NBA) regular season, what that's like. And Pau has also played the play-offs."
As for the level of competition, there are no easy games. Spain fell to Croatia in the group stage in Seville two years ago, and then lost to Russia in the European Championship game after point guard JR Holden hit a jump shot in the waning seconds for the Russians.
"We are going to Poland with the aim of winning the gold medal,” Fernandez said. “It's a desired gold for everyone, especially as it would allow us to take that bitterness of two years ago when we lost against Russia in the final in Madrid.”
New Spain coach Sergio Scariolo is due to announce his preliminary Spain squad for the EuroBasket on June 29. The top six teams at the EuroBasket in Poland (seven if Turkey are in the top six) will qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
FIBA