Spain Olympic Basketball Team: Complete Guide to Pau Gasol-Led National Squad

With the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics just days away, anticipation for the Olympic basketball tournament is palpable. 

Team USA comes in ranked No. 1 in the world and is led by the same host of players that won the 2008 games.  

Who is the American squad's biggest competition? Spain, who took the U.S. national team to the brink in a 118-107 thriller for gold in Beijing.

The world's second-ranked team is led by power forward Pau Gasol and team captain Juan Carlos Navarro. Coaching the Spanish squad will be Italian Sergio Scariolo, who led the team to gold medals in the Eurobasket championship in 2009 and 2011 but will be coaching in his first Olympics.

How does the rest of the squad stack up? Follow along for a complete guide to the Spanish Olympic basketball team.

Point Guards

Starter: Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors, NBA)

Backups: Sergio Rodriguez (Real Madrid, Spain), Victor Sada (FC Barcelona, Spain)

Against almost any team in the world, the Spanish squad has a massive advantage at point guard.

Calderon has regressed to a slightly above-average NBA point guard, but his prowess in the international style makes him exhilarating to watch.

Rodriguez will be out for Team USA's exhibition versus the Spanish team but will return for the Olympics. A former first-round pick, S-Rod has four years of NBA experience and blossomed for Real Madrid in Spain.

Regardless, a hypothetical matchup against Team USA in the medal round will pit Spain against Chris Paul and Deron Williams. Both guys are better NBA players than international ones, but the absence of Ricky Rubio will loom large for Spain here.  

Shooting Guards

Starter: Juan Carlos Navarro (FC Barcelona, Spain)

Backups: Sergio Llull (Real Madrid, Spain)

The 32-year-old Navarro serves as the Spanish team captain and the equivalent of Kobe Bryant for Spain. That means the best days of his career are past, but Navarro can still ball.  

He's a deadly shooter and can fill up the buckets in a seemingly infinite amount of ways.

Navarro can probably be remembered by U.S. audiences for his one-year stint with the Memphis Grizzlies or as the guy who dropped 18 on Team USA in the gold-medal game in Beijing.

Don't think that means Navarro's backup, Llull, is a slouch. The 24-year-old Llull is an NBA-style leaper who excels in the open court. He won the MVP of the 2012 Spanish King's Cup, a midseason tournament, and seemingly gets better with every minute on the court.

Team USA will have no easy task in containing either player—especially at the squad's second-weakest position.

Small Forwards

Starter: Rudy Fernandez (Real Madrid, Spain)

Backups: Fernando San Emeterio (Caja Laboral, Spain)

Anyone who saw Team USA's thrilling gold-medal matchup against Spain in 2008 will remember watching Fernandez's scoring barrage and thinking they were seeing the next great NBA superstar.

It wasn't meant to be, as Fernandez never seemed happy in the United States and left the NBA for Real Madrid earlier this summer.  

Regardless, Fernandez is deadly when he's at all cylinders. He's a sharpshooter with the quickness to get to the hole and athleticism to finish when he gets there.

San Emeterio was the Spanish League's MVP in 2011, but he'll get his first taste of full-fledged NBA competition in London. The 28-year-old is an expert finisher around the rim, but it remains to be seen how he handles the international stage.  

Power Forwards

Starter: Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers, NBA)

Backups: Felipe Reyes (Real Madrid, Spain), Victor Claver (Portland Trail Blazers, NBA)

With Juan Carlos Navarro serving as Spanish team captain, Gasol will simply have to settle on being the squad’s best individual player again in London. 

When motivated, Gasol is one of the 15 best players in the world and should come out firing after a lackluster NBA playoff performance.

Moving to the bench, Reyes’ best days are behind him. Regardless, the 32-year-old should be able to show flashes of his former greatness in limited minutes for Spain.

On the other hand, 24-year-old Claver’s best days are ahead. He’ll see the first extended minutes of his career against NBA competition against the United States, and that should do nothing but help Claver’s transition for next season. 

Centers

Starter: Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies, NBA)

Backups: Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA)

While Team USA's size deficiencies forced the team to bring in 19-year-old Anthony Davis, Spain has an abundance of top-notch post presences.

Both Gasol and Ibaka are defensive forces who will make getting points in the paint a Herculean task for nearly every squad in London. The two aren't offensive slouches either, with Ibaka able to stretch out to 15 feet and Gasol's post game getting better every year.

If Spain and the United States meet in the medal round, the result could come down to how well Team USA curtails the Spanish bigs.