VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Sergio Scariolo thanked the Spanish Basketball Federation for handing him the keys to the Ferrari after his first tournament in charge of the national team seven and a half years ago.

He had just coached Pau and Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull, Felipe Reyes, Alex Mumbru, Jorge Garbajosa, Raul Lopez, Carlos Cabezas and Victor Claver to the country's first EuroBasket title in Poland.

The Italian coach was playing the modest card. Anyone could have won a title with that roster. Or could they? If you look back at that tournament, it wasn't straightforward at all for Spain. They lost two of their first four games.

After falling in their opener to Serbia, they very nearly started 0-2 but avoided a colossal upset against Great Britain. Spain fell to Turkey in the first game of the second phase but then claimed five victories in a row to win the championship.

Indeed, if Scariolo had been driving a Ferrari, it was one that had been out of alignment at the beginning of the tournament.

Scariolo, at the helm of the national team every year since Poland with exception of EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 in Spain, revealed this week that he is going to have a souped up machine at FIBA EuroBasket 2017.

Barring any injuries, all of the NBA players, he said, have told him they will be available and that means Marc Gasol, after two years away from the national team, is coming back.

So Scariolo, when Spain play this summer in Cluj-Napoca and go up against Croatia, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania in the Group Phase, will have a roster to envy, one that has the two guys that jumped at center for the opening tip of the 2015 NBA All-Star Game.

Scariolo says he has a lot of work to do to get ready for the EuroBasket, although what coach doesn't? Winning the EuroBasket, even if you are Spain, is very difficult to do. His teams the last couple of years have struggled at the beginning of tournaments, including this past summer when Spain fell to Croatia and Brazil at the start of the Olympics.

Dario Saric's block of Pau Gasol's shot clinched victory for Croatia in Rio

Scariolo's squads normally peak at the right time.

What was interesting this week is that Scariolo says Marc Gasol's return is going to force a realignment to the Ferrari.

"We'll begin training on July 28 and we'll have to change our way of playing with respect to the last two years when Marc hasn't been here," Scariolo said. "We'll have to incorporate him. It's an important readjustment and there are many things that we're working on."

Scariolo has had both Gasols in the starting line-up before, at the 2012 Olympics. They reached the Final and lost to the United States.

At the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Scariolo's former assistant Juan Antonio Orenga was the head coach and had both Gasols in the starting line-up. Spain mowed down the competition that year until France upset them in the Quarter-Finals.

The presence of two Gasols does make Spain look like the team to beat, yet it guarantees nothing. The challenge for Scariolo and Spain overall is to get the best out of both big men.

Marc has a lot of qualities. He's a terrific passer.

He's got 3-point range on his jump shot. He's hit 38.1 percent (96 of 252) this season in the NBA.

He can defend. Marc was Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA for the 2012-13 season (strangely, ridiculously, he was not named All-NBA First Team Defense that year). With Spain, he blocks shots or comes up with steals.

So what will Scariolo have to do to make the most of both Gasols?

Scariolo is meticulous in his planning. He will do some tinkering, but he won't have to have an overhaul.

If he wants both on the court, don't be surprised if Pau spends more time outside and is a 3-point threat the way he was at the EuroBasket in France when he drilled 6 of 7 shots from the arc against Poland.

The aim will be to spread the floor so the likes of Sergio Rodriguez and Sergio Llull can penetrate and dish, run the give-and-go with Marc Gasol or Pau. Spain will be looking to make the extra pass on the perimeter to get the open shot.

What we know is that Spain will still try to play uptempo and they'll no doubt, when Marc is on the floor, get him the rock and let him facilitate from the high or low post.

Both Pau and Marc can do everything, save perhaps dribbling the ball up the floor to break a press.

No matter who Scariolo's got on the floor, be it both Gasols, one Gasol or no Gasols - Spain is Spain. Look for them to run at every opportunity. And look for both Gasols to have a big EuroBasket.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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