September 3rd, 2006. Spain was facing its first ever World Championship final and its biggest star Pau Gasol was sitting on the bench after a serious injury during the semi-finals. Greece led all the bets for the Championship but Spain were a true team and the masters of defence claimed a historical title by a huge margin of 70-47.

Four years later, Spain faces the World Championship as the defending champions and, for the first time since that memorable day in Saitama (Japan) without superstar Pau Gasol. After two exhausting seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA during which he claimed back-to-back NBA titles, he has decided to sit down for this summer and get some much needed rest.

So Spain is once again going for the big prize without its best man, but like what happened in 2006, they have the talent and the determination to overcome his absence and make a run for the gold. That is still the target for this ambitious team and of course the reigning European champions too.

Even without Pau Gasol, Spain remains one of the most powerful teams in the World, with depth in all positions and with a good mixture of size, talent and athleticism.

NBA playmaker José Calderón is back after missing 2009 EuroBasket because of an injury, and young sensation Ricky Rubio will share the playmaking role with the promising Sergio Llull coming off the bench as a combo guard. In the two-guard position, Scariolo will find Juan Carlos Navarro as the main go-to-guy while Rudy Fernández will add scoring at small forward. Veterans Alex Mumbrú and Víctor Claver and a bunch of newcomers like Rafa Martínez, Carlos Suárez and Fernando San Emeterio will add depth and versatility to the perimeter.

In the front-court, Scariolo will find another Gasol to start at the “5” spot. That will be Marc, younger brother of Pau and already an impact player in the NBA playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. A skilled, powerful and very solid center, he will be joined by veterans Felipe Reyes and Jorge Garbajosa as well as likely newcomer Pablo Aguilar plus Fran Vázquez who will make a major comeback for Spain. Out since 2005, Vázquez returns to the National Team after playing at very high level with FC Barcelona during the last two seasons.

With all of these tools, Spain aims for another successful year to complete a magical decade. It all started in 2001, also in Turkey, when Pau Gasol made his debut with the National Team and Spain earned a Bronze medal. It was followed by a 5th placed finish at the 2002 World Championship and a silver medal at the EuroBaske 2003t, before losing to United States in the 2004 Olympic Games quarter-finals and heading home joint 7th with a 6-1 record. Pau Gasol missed EuroBasket 2005 and Spain made it to fourth position, earning a spot in the 2006 World Championship and starting an era of incredible results.

Four years in a row, Spain has played in the finals of all the major championships. Saitama (Japan) witnessed in 2006 the first ever Spanish gold medal in a World Championship, but a key shot of J.R. Holden with just two seconds to go prevented the Iberians from triumphing at home during EuroBasket2007 held in Madrid and stepped onto the podium with a silver medal next to the golden Russians. In 2008 at the Olympics, Spain rallied to the final and challenged United States in one of the most impressive games ever seen in basketball history (107-118). It was only a silver medal, but still worth a big “hurrah!”

At EuroBasket 2009, Spain finally ended its curse at the European Championships. After having lost in the final six times previously, the team led by Pau Gasol managed to jump to the top of the podium after crushing Serbia in the finals by 85-63. But it was not easy, though: Spain lost to Serbia in the first game and was nearly eliminated by Great Britain in the second day. In spite of losing to Turkey in the opening game of the second round, the team coached by Scariolo made it to the quarter-finals and rallied to the title with impressive 20, 18 and 22 point margin wins over France, Greece and Serbia respectively.