MURCIA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Berni Rodriguez will always be an important name in the history of Spanish basketball.

That’s true for all 12 of the players who wore the national team shirt at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

A slick-shooting 1.97m guard, Berni got to play 23 minutes for the Spaniards in the title triumph over Greece that year, scoring six points and handing out four assists.

The following year, he played for Spain as they hosted EuroBasket 2007 and finished runners-up to Russia and then in 2008, Berni again donned the Spain jersey as they played at the Beijing Olympics and gave the United States a run for their money in the Gold Medal Game before falling, 118-107.

"It's the best thing you can do," Berni said to FIBA.com, "to represent your country.

"For me, to play those summers with the national team was unbelievable.

"We had a great group and I really enjoyed what we did in the summer.

"In the end, we won games and championships. It’s more than you can imagine.

"So far me, it was really great to be a part of these last 10 years of great basketball in Spain."

When Spain host the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, fans will no doubt be reminded of that famous team six years before.

Berni, who is now 32 years of age, is still playing in the Liga Endesa.

A standout for a long time with Unicaja Malaga, he now competes for Murcia.

"After Unicaja Malaga," he said, "I had the option of coming to Murcia.

"We have a really young team that grows up day by day.

"It's difficult in this league because there are so many good teams, but I’m really happy to be here."

Rodriguez was a part of one of the competition's most exciting plays this season.

In Murcia's game at Valencia Basket on 26 January and with less than a second remaining, Rodriguez threw an inbounds pass to Kim Tillie and the Frenchman tapped the ball in for a 96-94 win.

FIBA