Marc Gasol in Spain's 24-man preliminary squad for Rio
MADRID (2016 Rio Olympics) - Spain coach Sergio Scariolo on Thursday announced a 24-man preliminary squad for the Olympics and included Marc Gasol.
MADRID (2016 Rio Olympics) - Spain coach Sergio Scariolo on Thursday announced a 24-man preliminary squad for the Rio Olympics and included Marc Gasol.
| Spain 24-player squad for 2016 Rio Olympic Games | |||
| Alberto Abalde | Alex Abrines | Pablo Aguilar | Jose Manuel Calderon |
| Victor Claver | Joaquim Colom | Daniel Diez | Ilimane Diop |
| Rudy Fernandez | Marc Gasol | Pau Gasol | Juancho Hernangomez |
| Guillermo Hernangomez | Serge Ibaka | Sergio Llull | Nikola Mirotic |
| Juan Carlos Navarro | Felipe Reyes | Pau Ribas | Sergio Rodriguez |
| Ricky Rubio | Fernando San Emeterio | Joan Sastre | Guillem Vives |
The Memphis Grizzlies center broke his foot in February and was lost for the remainder of the season but Scariolo is going to wait and see if the player has a quick recovery which might allow him to play at the Olympic tournament, which tips off in early August.
Serge Ibaka and Nikola Mirotic are candidates for the squad but only one would be able to go to Rio de Janeiro as the country's naturalized player. EuroBasket 2011 MVP and four-time Olympian Juan Carlos Navarro of Barcelona is also on the list.
.@sergioscariolo "Es una lista de presente, pero con visión de futuro" https://t.co/I8K8VTvHL6 pic.twitter.com/4zcrh5xnFv
— FEB (@baloncestofeb) June 2, 2016
Scariolo has a lot of thinking and waiting to do before he announces a smaller list of candidates. He effectively decided not to rule anyone out at this stage.
"It's logical that it's a team of the present, looking towards the Games," Scariolo said, "but also as we have been doing in the past few years with a vision to the future with players born after 1990 who are on a journey to become important and we want them to enter the dynamic of the group and to feel part of the group."
It will be a while before Spain will know if Gasol is able to help out. His brother, Pau Gasol, was asked about Marc at a press conference earlier this week and he answered: "Marc is trying to recover, trying to see if he can arrive in time. Today, it's too early to tell."
Even without Marc Gasol, Navarro and a host of other experienced and important players, Spain made it to the top of the podium at EuroBasket 2015 in France. Led by tournament MVP Pau Gasol, Spain overcame Poland, Greece, France and Lithuania in the knockout round to capture their third European crown since 2009.
Spain have been a huge hit at the last three Olympics as well. In 2004, the team went unbeaten in the Preliminary Round before losing to the United States in the Quarter-Finals.
The Spaniards reached the Gold Medal Game at the last two Summer Games but fell in thrillers to the USA on both occasions.
FIBA