Joe Ingles and Alan Anderson were the two new additions to the Regal FC Barcelona roster this season as reinforcements following an alarming number of injuries suffered by Pascual’s players.
Gianluca Basile first, then Pete Mickeal and finally 15 matches without Juan Carlos Navarro meant
Joan Creus had to search the market for players to cover for the affected positions. That was why
Australian Joe Ingles and North American Alan Anderson were signed.
Ingles, with ACB experience
Although he is only 23, Ingles had already played in the ACB for a year
at CB Granada. He had only played seven games this season, and his eighth was his first for
Barcelona, at Caja Laboral. Curiously, his finest match of the season until then was the one
against Regal Barça in game two, when he scored 25 points and received an evaluation of 34.
But Ingles came to Regal Barça to serve a completely different role to the one he played
under Catalan coach Trifon Poch. He struggled to get minutes, but certainly adapted quickly. His
extrovert nature made him a close friend of the other players, especially Lakovic, Ricky and Sada.
Pascual’s assistants also improved his shooting considerably. Ingles signed a contract for
three seasons.
Anderson, Cup MVP
The globetrotting Alan Anderson who played for four different European
teams in just four seasons was soon showing why he was contracted. The man from Minneapolis’s
second match in Miribilla against Bizkaia Bilbao Basket was settled by his buzzer-beating score.
That was game 14 of the ACB season on January 2, 2011.
A month later, Anderson was competing for a first team place with Mickeal, who had recovered
from injury, although there were doubts as to whether he was ready to return in such a competitive
environment as the Copa del Rey. Anderson ended up MVP of the competition, and won his first title
at the club. By the end of the season, he had established his place in the first team, and was the
team’s second highest ACB scorer after Juan Carlos Navarro.