Spain Olympic Basketball Team: Do Spaniards Have Firepower to Keep Rolling?

It's not exactly a secret that Spain is (or should be) a serious threat to earn a medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. They're one of three teams, along with the U.S. and Russia, that has yet to lose through three games in London.

Whether La Roja can keep it up, though—much less challenge Team USA for the gold medal—is another story entirely.

The Spaniards certainly sport the requisite talent to make significant noise beyond the preliminary rounds. Sergio Scariolo's squad features seven players with NBA experience, including the All-Star tandem of Pau and Marc Gasol inside. That ties Spain with France for the second-most current and former members of the Association at its disposal, though Nando de Colo's upcoming debut with the San Antonio Spurs would technically give Les Bleus a leg up in this regard.

Spain's own total—and, in turn, their chances of success at the Olympics—has taken a pair of serious injury hits, though. A knee injury to Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Ricky Rubio left the Spanish backcourt a bit thin well before the start of the summer, and things have only gotten worse now that team captain Juan Carlos Navarro is out with a foot problem of his own.

The damage to Navarro is far more damning to Spain's hopes, if only because Rubio's role had long been one of a backup and figured to remain so in London.

Luckily for Spain, Rudy Fernandez (11.0 points, 4.3 assists) has done a fine job of replacing Navarro's production on the wing, while Jose Calderon (11.7 points, 2.7 assists) hasn't been left wanting for Rubio's helping hand.

With or without a full complement of guards, Spain's strength lies up front. The Gasols, Serge Ibaka, Felipe Reyes and Victor Claver give La Roja a rotation of big men whose combination of size, skill, depth and defensive ability is unmatched by most of the field and is well-equipped to frustrate Team USA's, at the very least.

In theory, then, Spain is a basketball powerhouse with the requisite assets to put the rest of the world on notice, including the size-deprived Americans.

In practice, though, the Spaniards have plenty of work to do if they're to live up to the lofty expectations established by the silver medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Spain opened their London slate with a 16-point victory over still-winless China, in which they struggled to create separation on the scoreboard and slow down Yi Jianlian, who racked up 30 points and 12 rebounds against their vaunted front line.

Spain seemed to step up their defensive effort against Australia, but they were stricken by a scourge of sloppy play (16 turnovers) and missed shots (43.1 percent from the field, 19-of-26 from the free-throw line) in an 82-70 win.

And after Thursday's 79-78 nail-biter against 0-3 Great Britain, the Spaniards should count themselves lucky to still be undefeated. As Grantland's Sebastian Pruiti points out, the hosts were able to contain Spain's silky smooth pick-and-roll and contest their spot-up shooters on defense, while Luol Deng and Joel Freeland torched La Roja for 51 points combined on the other end.

Clearly, Spain still has some issues with defense up front and taking care of the ball in the backcourt. Moreover, Spain has yet to play any of the other upper-echelon teams in the Olympic field. That'll change on Saturday afternoon, when they take on undefeated Russia, and on Monday night, against the big, bruising Brazilians.

Things won't get any easier in the knockout rounds, either. La Roja figure to see either France, Argentina or Lithuania in the quarterfinals, and they could wind up going head-to-head with Team USA in the semis.

This isn't all to say that Spain's best-case scenario leaves them scrapping it out for the bronze medal. This group has been there and done that on the international stage, and it has more than enough returning talent and experience on hand to turn things around.

And, frankly, as poorly as the Spaniards have played, they're still sitting pretty at 3-0.

But looking good on paper doesn't matter if the on-court results don't match, and if Spain doesn't get their house in order in a hurry, they may be stuck watching the medal ceremony from the stands at North Greenwich Arena in London.

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