Today, Spanish national team coach Aito Garcia Reneses announced the twelve guys that will compete for the current World Champion in the Summer Olympics in Beijing. And super-talent Ricky Rubio is among the twelve that will travel to China.

This tournament will represent the first global event for the 1990-born phenomenon. Anybody that still hasn’t heard about him or seen him play will have the opportunity to see, as the Americans like to say, the “next big thing.” Forget Brandon Jennings, forget B.J. Mullens: This kid is even younger and will play against the best players in the world during the Summer Olympics.

But coming back to the Spanish roster, let’s take a closer look who will represent Spain in Beijing.

Guards: Rudy Fernandez (Portland Trailblazers), Ricky Rubio (DKV Joventut), Juan Carlos Navarro (FC Barcelona), Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors), Raul Lopez (Real Madrid), Berni Rodriguez (Unicaja Malaga).

Forwards: Jorge Garbajosa (no team), Felipe Reyes (Real Madrid), Alex Mumbru (Real Madrid), Carlos Jimenez (Unicaja Malaga).

Centers: Pau Gasol (LA Lakers), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies).

A tremendous roster for Aito and his coaching staff to work with and certainly one of the main favorites for the gold medal … two current NBA players, three former NBA players, three future NBA players and the remainder high-quality Euroleague material is a mix that not many teams can offer.

By the way, the three guys left off the team after the cut were Victor Sada, Victor Claver and Juanjo Triguero:  Not a big surprise in any way.

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