MIES (Switzerland) - A dominant force in international basketball for more than two decades, Spain made a habit of reaching the podium at events from 1999 to 2022.
The country has had a top three finish at every FIBA EuroBasket since 2007. Add to that two world titles, Olympic silver (twice) and bronze (once) since 2008, and you have an amazing run.
How do you come up with the top five Spain teams of all time? It ain't easy, especially when considering Spain has been a champion six times in international basketball and claimed Olympic silver in 1984, too.
The Spain teams since the millennium have been at a different level to those that came before, so the 1984 team that fell to the USA in the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Game gets a huge salute, but misses the top five.
The FIBA EuroBasket title winning teams of 2009, 2015 and 2022 will also have to settle for great, but not as great as five other teams. That's even considering the gauntlet that Spain had to run in 2015, when Pau Gasol was MVP and Spain beat hosts France in overtime in the Semi-Finals, and also 2022 when Spain won arguably the toughest EuroBasket of all time.
Here are the top five.
5 - 2012 - London Olympics
Spain get another chance against USA
Spain were well equipped to give the USA a run for their money again when the London Games were played, four years after their classic Gold Medal Game showdown in Beijing. Russia with Kirilenko, Blatt and sharpshooting Vitaliy Fridzon were a match for any team, and so were Argentina, who had followed up their gold at the 2004 Olympics with bronze in Beijing.
Argentina still had Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino, but also a savvy veteran playmaker Pablo Prigioni and an up-and-coming point guard in Facundo Campazzo. Brazil with Marcelinho Huertas and Splitter, and Australia with Mills and Ingles, amongst others, and France with Parker, Nic Batum, Diaw, Ronny Turiaf and the Pietrus brothers, Mickael and Florent, guaranteed London would have an amazing Olympic competition.
Spain had more continuity and more cohesion than any other team. They were loaded with exceptionally gifted players that had championship-winning experience like the Gasol brothers, Navarro, Reyes, Calderon, Fernandez, Llull, Ibaka, Claver, Sergio Rodriguez and Sada.
It didn't matter that Spain lost a couple of times before they faced the USA in the Final. They go beat in the Preliminary Round, by Brazil and Russia. They also edged Luol Deng and Great Britain, 79-78, and it was enough to advance.
Still, when the knockout tournament began, they were ready. Spain so frustrated France that Batum punched Navarro in the groin near the end and earned an unsportsmanlike foul. After that 66-59 win, Spain defeated Russia, 67-59, to reach the Final at a second straight Olympics.
Despite Marc Gasol picking up four fouls in the first half of the Final, Spain threw everything at the USA and nearly got them. In the end, the Americans edged it, 107-100. Spain had nevertheless gone toe to toe with the best and had another terrific Olympic campaign.
4- 2008 - Beijing Games
Spain in the Greatest Olympic Final
The highly anticipated Olympic Games in the Far East was a star-studded tournament with plenty of intrigue. When the USA Redeem Team ran onto the court to take on Yao Ming and hosts China, viewing figures around the globe were incredible. George W. Bush sat in the stands to watch, as did former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Having big names at the Games was a recurring theme. Diego Maradona came to watch Argentina, Rafa Nadal was on hand to watch his friend Pau Gasol and Spain and even David Beckham showed up to sit courtside at games in his trademark white t-shirt.
China had a deep love for Kobe Bryant, cheering him on at every opportunity whether he was playing the game or just watching. The teams were loaded, as Olympic tournaments always are. Dirk Nowitzki made his Olympic bow for Germany and Hamed Haddadi played for Iran. Lithuania and Argentina were loaded up for runs at a medal. Greece had their golden generation.
But Spain, the World Cup winners of two years before, represented the biggest threat to the Redeem Team, although it didn't seem like that at first with the Americans winning all of their games convincingly, including against Spain in the Preliminary Round, before facing the team led by Aito Garcia in the Final. Rubio, a teenager, earned his place in the Spain team and caused a buzz from start to finish.
There was also Raul Lopez, the NBA guard of Utah whose career had nearly been derailed by injuries. Spain had the bulk of their title winning team from Japan, including the Gasol brothers, Navarro, Fernandez, Jimenez, Garbajosa, Reyes, Rodriguez, Mumbru and Calderon.
Kobe Bryant broke Spain hearts that afternoon with a 4-point play, after being fouled behind the arc by Fernandez. NBA guard Calderon picked up an injury and had to miss the title showdown. But Spain were outstanding and played their part in what was up to that point the greatest Olympic Final, a game the USA won, 118-107.
3 - 2011 - FIBA EuroBasket
Spain reign at first 24-team EuroBasket in Lithuania
The EuroBasket 2009 winning team was likened to a Ferrari by coach Sergio Scariolo. The 2011 team would have been a Formula 1 car from the future. The squad was scary good, and it needed to be because the 24-team tournament in Lithuania was loaded with exceptionally talented teams like North Macedonia, who upset hosts Lithuania in the Quarter-Finals.
That North Macedonia team had Pero Antic, Vlado Ilievski and Bo McCalebb. Russia were a solid unit coached by David Blatt and led on the court by Andrei Kirilenko. The Blatt and Kirilenko-led Russia had beaten Spain in the EuroBasket 2007 Final in Madrid so THEY - WERE - GOOD!
France had a team to envy with players like Batum, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Joakim Noah. Yet Spain beat them twice, including in the Final, 98-85.
Pau Gasol had five years earlier achieved legendary status as the MVP of the World Cup in Japan, and every tournament he seemed to get better and better. Yet for once in his Spain national team life, he was NOT the MVP for his team. In 2011, it was La Bomba, Juan Carlos Navarro, the Barcelona shooting guard that was so often unstoppable.
Even the USA struggled to contain him in their meetings with Spain. Still, the overall all-star depth gave this Spain team the wow factor. Marc Gasol had started coming into his own as a great center and was on his way to NBA stardom, while Jose Manuel Calderon was the point guard and naturalized big Serge Ibaka of Oklahoma City fame was a huge weapon off the bench. Rubio was a playmaker that made Spain sizzle. Spain were so deep that they had all-star talent at every turn.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Fernandez was their best player on defense, and others like Felipe Reyes, Victor Claver, Fernando San Emeterio and Victor Sada made this Spain team virtually unbeatable. Virtually, because Spain did fall in the Group Phase to Turkey, yet that was a blip. When the Second Round got underway, Spain were off to the races. North Macedonia, coming off the high of their upset of Lithuania, made Spain work in the Semi-Final but even then, Navarro and Co won, 92-80. Navarro erupted for 35 points in that game!
2- 2019 - FIBA Basketball World Cup
Rubio and Co go unbeaten in China
With veteran coach Sergio Scariolo at the helm, Spain had a lot of questions heading into an event with no Pau, no Navarro and most of the other players from the country's golden generation. The competition was fierce, too. Australia had an incredible team led by Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Andrew Bogut, and France had a bevy of magnificent players like giant center Rudy Gobert, 2014 World Cup All-Star five member Nic Batum and flashy and effective guard Nando de Colo, among others. Serbia boasted the exquisite talents of Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the USA were loaded as usual.
Spain had a legend in the making in Ricky Rubio at point guard, and still had Marc Gasol at center, and both players, along with inspirational veterans Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Llull, keyed a legendary run to the title. Spain's biggest test was Australia, but they hit back from a double-digit deficit to stun the Boomers in two overtimes before rolling to a 95-75 victory over Argentina in the Final.
This Spain team was special, too, because it was loaded with unsung heroes like Victor Claver and Pau Ribas. Scariolo got quality minutes from the Hernangomez brothers, Willy and Juancho, and Pierre Oriola. This was also the first world champion that had come through a grueling European Qualifiers campaign and players that had helped in that regard that were on the team included Javier Beiran, Quino Colom and Xavier Rabaseda. Another wonderful aspect of this team was that it evolved after a series of close wins in the Group Phase over Puerto Rico, Iran, Italy and Serbia. Once the Final arrived, there was no beating them.
1- 2006 - FIBA Basketball World Cup
Los Chicos del Oro lift Naismith Trophy for first time
This tournament was amazing. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul all suited up for the USA, and Greece's EuroBasket 2005 winning team was almost the same in 2006, led by Theo Papaloukas, Vasilis Spanoulis and Dimitris Diamantidis.
The Greeks also had the special touch with legendary player-turned-coach Panagiotis Giannakis at the helm. Then there was Argentina, just two years removed from capturing the gold medal at the Olympics in Athens. At this spectacular 24-team event in Japan, there were high quality national teams at every turn. Brazil were stacked, with NBA stars Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao, the great scorer Marcelinho Machado and emerging European stars Marcelinho Huertas and Tiago Splitter, yet they didn't even get out of the Hamamatsu group of death!
It was Spain's time to finish top after a couple of frustration-filled tournaments. Remember, in 2004, Spain won all five of their Preliminary Round games at the Athens Olympics, only for Stephon Marbury to score a USA Olympic record 31 points to knock them out in the Quarter-Finals, 102-94. One year later and Spain, without star center Pau Gasol, made a run to the EuroBasket Semi-Finals but finished fourth. At the World Cup in Japan, Pau took his game to new heights, averaging 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds. Yet Spain were so good, they were able to win the Final without him, against a Greek team that had just stunned the USA, 101-95.
At this World Cup, Navarro and Jose Calderon played most of the minutes in the backcourt, and Jorge Garbajosa, Carlos Jimenez, Felipe Reyes excelled on the interior. Alex Mumbru and Berni Rodriguez were explosive, tough nosed players coming off the bench and youngsters Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez made appearances in each game and teamed up for the best alley-oops of the tournament.
Even Marc Gasol, called into the team as a late injury replacement for Fran Vazquez, was an important contributor. With experienced coach Pepu Hernandez at the helm, this team went unbeaten. Spain won their Group Phase games by an average of 28.0 points, and then knocked off Serbia and Montenegro, Lithuania, Argentina and Greece to lift the Naismith Trophy.
FIBA
*This Top Five and the honorable mention are entirely subjective and in no way represent an official or accurate award, nor do they reflect FIBA's official stance. All comments are solely those of the author and expert panel, intended to entertain the fans.