Spain mourn passing of former coach Javier Imbroda

MALAGA (Spain) - In the annals of Spanish basketball, Javier Imbroda will always be fondly remembered.

He'll be viewed as the man that steered the country's most talented generation of players - specifically Juan Carlos Navarro, Pau Gasol, Felipe Reyes and Raul Lopez - to its first important success in the senior national team.

Imbroda, who died on Saturday at 61 years of age following a long battle with cancer, steered those Spain players to the podium at FIBA EuroBasket 2001 in Istanbul. Spain defeated a Germany team that had Dirk Nowitzki, 99-90, in the Third-Place Game.

All four of those players had, two years before at the World Championship for Junior Men in Portugal, helped Spain defeat the USA in the title game but Istanbul marked the first time each claimed a medal with the country as members of the senior team.

Imbroda (standing, in blue shirt) had Navarro, Gasol, Lopez and Felipe Reyes at EuroBasket 2001

Imbroda also coached Spain at the World Cup 2002 in Indianapolis to a victory over the USA in the Fifth-Place Game. All 12 players in that American team were NBA stars, including Paul Pierce and Reggie Miller.

Navarro, Gasol and Reyes would go on to capture multiple EuroBasket crowns, Olympic medals and of course, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2006 in Japan. Gasol paid tribute to Imbroda on Twitter, expressing his gratitude for having allowed the big man to make his senior team bow.

Imbroda, who was born in the Spanish city of Melilla, in north Africa, had a long career coaching in Spain's ACB, including stints with Unicaja Malaga, Caja San Fernando, Real Madrid, Forum Vallodolid and Menorca Basquet.

After that, for more than a decade, Imbroda used his experience and education in public service and became a politician.

He was Minister of Education and Sport in Andalusia at the time of his death.

FIBA