Memphis Grizzles center Marc Gasol was one of the biggest absences of the Olympic tournament in Rio.

Gasol was sidelined with a Type II navicular bone fracture in his right foot that cut his season short in February.

As such, the Spaniards were forced to give Willy Hernangómez more run at the center position in his absence.

The seven-foot center sat down with Catalan newspaper L'Esportiu to talk about his summer experience.

Translated by Jorge Sierra of Hoops Hype:

On his foot injury:

“I'm really well and looking forward to starting (the season). I miss the competition, playing and enjoying basketball. All indications are that the foot is fine. I've practiced with the (Girona basketball club) juniors all I could, especially half-court sets.”

On almost making it to the Olympic Games:

“I was a couple of weeks away.”

On Spain's bronze at the Olympics:

“A deserved medal. They suffered. They felt they could have beaten the U.S. It was not a splendid game. I don't know how big of a shot they had, but it's true that you could see they could have beaten them.”

Marc Gasol figures to resume basketball activities by the start of training camp. He averaged 16.6 points and seven rebounds last season in 52 games played.