1999 Orlando Miracle season

The 1999 WNBA season was the Orlando Miracle's inaugural season. The Miracle tied for second place in the conference with the Detroit Shock and the Charlotte Sting. However, both Detroit and Charlotte beat Orlando in two of their three meetings during the regular season. Therefore, the Miracle were in fourth place and out of playoff contention.

1999 Orlando Miracle season
Coach	Carolyn Peck
Arena	TD Waterhouse Centre
Attendance	9,801 per game
Results
Record	15–17 (.469)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Shannon Johnson (14.0)
Rebounds	Taj McWilliams (7.5)
Assists	Shannon Johnson (4.4)
2000 season →

Transactions

WNBA expansion draft

Main article: 1999 WNBA expansion draft

Player	Nationality	Former WNBA Team
Andrea Congreaves	United Kingdom	Charlotte Sting
Kisha Ford	United States	New York Liberty
Yolanda Moore	United States	Houston Comets
Adrienne Johnson	United States	Cleveland Rockers

WNBA allocation draft

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Nykesha Sales	United States	UConn
Shannon Johnson	United States	Columbus Quest

WNBA draft

See also: 1999 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	8	Tari Phillips	United States	Colorado Xplosion
2	20	Sheri Sam	United States	San Jose Lasers
3	32	Taj McWilliams-Franklin	United States	Philadelphia Rage
4	44	Carla McGhee	United States	Columbus Quest
4	50	Elaine Powell	United States	Portland Power

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 6, 1999	Drafted Andrea Congreaves, Kisha Ford, Yolanda Moore and Adrienne Johnson in the 1999 WNBA expansion Draft[1]
May 3, 1999	Drafted Nykesha Sales and Shannon Johnson in the 1999 WNBA Allocation Draft[1]
May 4, 1999	Drafted Tari Phillips, Sheri Sam, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Carla McGhee and Elaine Powell in the 1999 WNBA Draft[1]

Roster

1999 Orlando Miracle roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs F/C 3 Congreaves, Andrea 6' 2" (1.88m) 183 lb (83kg) 1970-06-03 Mercer 2 G/F 5 Ford, Kisha 5' 10" (1.78m) 153 lb (69kg) 1975-04-04 Georgia Tech 2 G 31 Johnson, Adrienne 5' 10" (1.78m) 154 lb (70kg) 1974-02-05 Ohio State 2 G 14 Johnson, Shannon 5' 7" (1.7m) 152 lb (69kg) 1974-08-18 South Carolina R G 10 McGhee, Carla 6' 1" (1.85m) 173 lb (78kg) 1968-03-06 Tennessee R F/C 11 McWilliams-Franklin, Taj 6' 2" (1.88m) 195 lb (88kg) 1970-10-20 St. Edward's R F/C 33 Moore, Yolanda 6' 0" (1.83m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-07-01 Mississippi 2 F/C 24 Phillips, Tari 6' 2" (1.88m) 200 lb (91kg) 1970-03-06 Central Florida R G 50 Powell, Elaine 5' 8" (1.73m) 150 lb (68kg) 1975-08-09 LSU R G/F 42 Sales, Nykesha 6' 0" (1.83m) 184 lb (83kg) 1976-05-10 Connecticut R G/F 55 Sam, Sheri 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1974-05-05 Vanderbilt R G 7 Suber, Tora 5' 7" (1.7m) 137 lb (62kg) 1974-11-23 Virginia 2	Head coach Carolyn Peck (Vanderbilt) Assistant coaches Charlene Thomas-Swinson Rick Stukes Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1999 game log Total: 15–17 (Home: 8–8; Road: 7–9)
June: 5–3 (Home: 3–1; Road: 2–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 June 10 Houston L 63–77 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (15) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (7) Shannon Johnson (7) TD Waterhouse Centre 0–1 2 June 12 @ Utah L 65–71 Sheri Sam (21) Sheri Sam (10) Shannon Johnson (7) Delta Center 0–2 3 June 15 Los Angeles W 88–86 Nykesha Sales (29) Andrea Congreaves (11) Shannon Johnson (8) TD Waterhouse Centre 1–2 4 June 17 @ Detroit L 74–79 Shannon Johnson (22) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) McWilliams-Franklin Sales (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 1–3 5 June 19 Washington W 73–68 Shannon Johnson (18) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (11) Shannon Johnson (7) TD Waterhouse Centre 2–3 6 June 21 Phoenix W 80–76 Sales Sam (20) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (9) Shannon Johnson (9) TD Waterhouse Centre 3–3 7 June 22 @ Cleveland W 71–62 Sheri Sam (22) McWilliams-Franklin Sales (7) Nykesha Sales (6) Gund Arena 4–3 8 June 28 @ Houston W 68–66 Nykesha Sales (23) Sheri Sam (6) S. Johnson Sales (6) Compaq Center 5–3
July : 4–9 (Home: 1–6; Road: 3–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 9 July 3 Charlotte L 58–75 Shannon Johnson (17) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (11) Shannon Johnson (4) TD Waterhouse Centre 5–4 10 July 7 Minnesota L 66–71 Sheri Sam (15) McGhee Sam (7) Shannon Johnson (6) TD Waterhouse Centre 5–5 11 July 9 @ Charlotte W 66–61 Nykesha Sales (16) S. Johnson McWilliams-Franklin (5) Shannon Johnson (4) Charlotte Coliseum 6–5 12 July 10 Utah W 62–56 Nykesha Sales (21) Shannon Johnson (8) Shannon Johnson (4) TD Waterhouse Centre 7–5 13 July 12 Detroit L 67–76 Congreaves McWilliams-Franklin (14) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (8) S. Johnson Sam (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 7–6 14 July 16 Charlotte L 50–56 Nykesha Sales (15) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (6) Shannon Johnson (3) TD Waterhouse Centre 7–7 15 July 17 Sacramento L 70–76 Nykesha Sales (20) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (10) Shannon Johnson (9) TD Waterhouse Centre 7–8 16 July 19 @ Washington W 77–52 Sheri Sam (20) Shannon Johnson (4) S. Johnson Sales (4) MCI Center 8–8 17 July 21 @ New York L 56–61 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) Shannon Johnson (7) Sheri Sam (3) Madison Square Garden 8–9 18 July 23 @ Phoenix L 67–73 Shannon Johnson (22) Sheri Sam (6) Shannon Johnson (6) America West Arena 8–10 19 July 24 @ Sacramento W 73–64 Shannon Johnson (31) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (10) Shannon Johnson (5) ARCO Arena 9–10 20 July 27 @ Los Angeles L 60–81 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (17) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (7) Elaine Powell (4) Great Western Forum 9–11 21 July 29 New York L 52–56 (OT) Shannon Johnson (25) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (12) Shannon Johnson (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 9–12
August : 6–5 (Home: 4–1; Road: 2–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 22 August 1 @ New York L 61–74 Nykesha Sales (21) Nykesha Sales (8) Congreaves S. Johnson (3) Madison Square Garden 9–13 23 August 4 Cleveland W 70–62 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (16) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (9) S. Johnson (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 10–13 24 August 5 @ Washington L 68–72 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (24) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (10) Sheri Sam (7) MCI Center 10–14 25 August 7 @ Charlotte L 60–64 Shannon Johnson (25) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (6) Nykesha Sales (5) Charlotte Coliseum 10–15 26 August 9 New York L 75–80 Nykesha Sales (24) McWilliams-Franklin Sales (6) Nykesha Sales (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 10–16 27 August 12 Cleveland W 55–54 Nykesha Sales (16) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (15) Nykesha Sales (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 11–16 28 August 14 @ Cleveland W 73–61 Nykesha Sales (17) Shannon Johnson (6) Shannon Johnson (8) Gund Arena 12–16 29 August 16 Washington W 81–54 Sheri Sam (19) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (9) Nykesha Sales (6) TD Waterhouse Centre 13–16 30 August 18 Detroit W 93–81 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (21) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) Elaine Powell (6) TD Waterhouse Centre 14–16 31 August 20 @ Minnesota W 83–80 (OT) Shannon Johnson (20) Taj McWilliams-Franklin (8) Nykesha Sales (6) Target Center 15–16 32 August 21 @ Detroit L 68–74 Shannon Johnson (22) Sheri Sam (7) Elaine Powell (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 15–17
1999 season schedule

Season standings

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
New York Liberty x	18	14	.563	12–8	–
Detroit Shock x	15	17	.469	12–8	3.0
Charlotte Sting x	15	17	.469	12–8	3.0
Orlando Miracle o	15	17	.469	9–11	3.0
Washington Mystics o	12	20	.375	10–10	6.0
Cleveland Rockers o	7	25	.219	5–15	11.0

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Shannon Johnson	32	32	35.8	.447	.364	.686	4.7	4.4	1.7	0.4	14.0
Sheri Sam	32	32	34.0	.388	.328	.688	4.6	2.4	1.3	0.3	11.4
Taj McWilliams-Franklin	32	32	32.6	.480	.444	.667	7.5	1.6	1.8	1.2	13.1
Nykesha Sales	32	32	32.5	.385	.330	.805	4.2	2.8	2.2	0.3	13.7
Andrea Congreaves	32	32	25.4	.500	.366	.830	3.2	1.1	0.8	0.2	6.5
Elaine Powell	18	0	14.2	.515	.111	.545	1.3	1.8	0.5	0.2	2.6
Tari Phillips	32	0	10.5	.406	.000	.481	2.1	0.3	0.6	0.3	4.1
Carla McGhee	30	0	7.8	.319	N/A	.833	1.5	0.3	0.3	0.1	1.5
Adrienne Johnson	29	0	7.7	.403	.125	.667	1.0	0.5	0.2	0.1	2.0
Kisha Ford	8	0	5.6	.200	.000	1.000	0.8	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.5
Yolanda Moore	23	0	5.0	.476	.000	.500	0.6	0.0	0.2	0.0	1.1
Tora Suber	25	0	4.6	.292	.111	.500	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.0	0.8

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season

• Shannon Johnson was tied for tenth in the WNBA in Three Point Field Goals with 40
• Taj McWilliams-Franklin ranked third in the WNBA in Three Point Field Goal Percentage, .444
• Nykesha Sales ranked eighth in the WNBA in Field Goal Attempts with 397
• Sheri Sam ranked sixth in the WNBA in Minutes Played with 1088
• Sheri Sam was tied for eighth in the WNBA in Three Point Field Goals with 41
• Sheri Sam ranked ninth in the WNBA in Three Point Field Goal Attempts with 125^[2]

Awards and honors

• Shannon Johnson, Guard, Orlando Miracle, All-WNBA Second Team^[3]
• Shannon Johnson led the WNBA in Minutes Played with 1147^[2]