Jorge Garbajosa is always one of the best players on the court - but that means nothing to him if his team loses. 

'Garba' has been able to smile of late because of Spain's successful summer, during which they have gone unbeaten against some of the world's top teams. 

But one defeat in the Olympic Games in Athens and that's likely to change. 

"We beat Argentina in a friendly, we beat (Serbia &) Montenegro twice, we beat Greece, too," Garbajosa told PA International. 

"That means that we are working in the right way, but we are professional and we know that the Olympics Games will be different and much harder." 

The Olympic draw was not kind to Spain. In addition to China, they are in Group A with Serbia & Montenegro, Argentina, Italy, China and New Zealand.

The defending champions United States and Lithuania, the European champions, are in Group A. But Spain's group is widely considered to be tougher.

"We have to compete with the best teams in the world," he said.

"Maybe some people think finishing in fourth position (in the group) is not very good, but (I think) finishing in fourth is a nice result." 

That would at least get them into the quarter-finals.

Garbajosa, a 2.07m power forward/center, is a coach's dream. 

The 26-year-old Madrid native can shoot, rebound and block shots. Most importantly, he defends and plays hard for 40 minutes a game. That was why Barcelona were desperate to sign him at the end of last season, when it became apparent that he was going to leave Italy and return to Spain.

For Benetton Treviso in 2003-4 he was the most valuable player of the Coppa Italia and his performances in that tournament made him a target for many of the giants in Europe.

In the end, he chose Unicaja Malaga. 

He becomes animated when asked about playing in Spain again. 

"I have had four unbelievable years in Italy, but my wish was to come back to Spain and play there," he said. 

"I think it is the best league in the world outside the NBA. So I have a long contract and I think it was the best choice I could make.

"I know the coach (Sergio Scariolo) and I know he's a winner and wants to make Unicaja one of the top teams in Europe. I'm proud that he wanted me to help him do it.

"I think Benetton is similar to Unicaja. It's a very good team that wants to make the step-up. I did it with Benetton and I want to do it with Unicaja."

Saying good-bye to Lega A and Italy won't be easy, though. 

"I will miss Italy," he added.

"I have a lot of friends there. I like the food, I like the way that they live but my country is Spain and I want to prove to myself that I can play there." As for the Olympics, their tournament begins on Sunday against China who, with Houston Rockets center Yao Ming and veteran NBA coach Del Harris, are very dangerous. 

"We know that Yao Ming is very important to China's team, but we also know they have other kinds of players, shooters and playmakers who can score a lot of points, too," Garbajosa said.

"The first game is important always, but we believe if we begin the game with the right concentration we can beat them."