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)
← 1998 season 2000 season →

Offseason

Expansion Draft

Pick	Player	Nationality	Former Team	School/Team/Country
2	Andrea Congreaves	United Kingdom	Charlotte Sting	Mercer
4	Kisha Ford	United States	New York Liberty	Georgia Tech
6	Yolanda Moore	United States	Houston Comets	Mississippi
8	Adrienne Johnson	United States	Cleveland Rockers	Ohio State

WNBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	8	Tari Phillips	United States	Central Florida (from Colorado Xplosion, ABL)
2	20	Sheri Sam	United States	Vanderbilt (from San Jose Lasers, ABL)
3	32	Taj McWilliams	United States	St. Edward's (from Philadelphia Rage, ABL)
4	44	Carla McGhee	United States	Tennessee (from Columbus Quest, ABL)
4	50	Elaine Powell	United States	LSU (from Portland Power, ABL)

[1]

Roster

Orlando Miracle roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From F 3 Congreaves, Andrea 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 183 lb (83 kg) Mercer G 5 Ford, Kisha 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 153 lb (69 kg) Georgia Tech G 31 Johnson, Adrienne 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 154 lb (70 kg) Ohio State G 14 Johnson, Shannon 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 152 lb (69 kg) South Carolina F 10 McGhee, Carla 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 179 lb (81 kg) Tennessee F/C 11 McWilliams, Taj 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 184 lb (83 kg) St. Edward's College F 33 Moore, Yolanda 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Mississippi F 24 Phillips, Tari 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) University of Central Florida G 50 Powell, Elaine 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 150 lb (68 kg) LSU G/F 42 Sales, Nykesha 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Connecticut G/F 55 Sam, Sheri 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Vanderbilt G 7 Suber, Tora 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 137 lb (62 kg) Virginia	Head coach Carolyn Peck (Vanderbilt) Assistant coaches Michael Peck (Marshall) Charlene Thomas-Swinson (Auburn) Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

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

Season schedule

Preseason

1999 Game Log: Preseason
Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Record 1 June 4 @ Minnesota W 80-76 N/A N/A N/A Midwest Wireless Civic Center 1-0 2 June 6 Minnesota W 81-71 N/A N/A N/A Amway Arena 2-0

Regular season

1999 Game Log: Regular Season
June Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Record 1 June 10 Houston L 63-77 McWilliams (15) McWilliams (7) S. Johnson (7) Amway Arena 0-1 2 June 12 @ Utah L 65-71 Sam (21) Sam (10) S. Johnson (7) Delta Center 0-2 3 June 15 Los Angeles W 88-86 Sales (29) Congreaves (10) S. Johnson (8) Amway Arena 1-2 4 June 17 @ Detroit L 74-79 S. Johnson (22) McWilliams (13) McWilliams, Sales (2) Palace of Auburn Hills 1-3 5 June 19 Washington W 73-68 S. Johnson (18) McWilliams (11) S. Johnson (7) Amway Arena 2-3 6 June 21 Phoenix W 80-76 Sam, Sales (20) McWilliams (9) S. Johnson (9) Amway Arena 3-3 7 June 22 @ Cleveland W 71-62 Sam (22) McWilliams, Sales (7) Sales (6) Gund Arena 4-3 8 June 28 @ Houston W 68-66 Sales (23) Sam (6) S. Johnson, Sales (4) Compaq Center 5-3
July Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Record 9 July 3 Charlotte L 58-75 S. Johnson (17) McWilliams (11) S. Johnson (4) Amway Arena 5-4 10 July 7 Minnesota L 66-71 Sam (15) McGhee, Sam (7) S. Johnson (6) Amway Arena 5-5 11 July 9 @ Charlotte W 66-61 Sales (16) McWilliams, S. Johnson (5) S. Johnson (4) Charlotte Coliseum 6-5 12 July 10 Utah W 62-56 Sales (21) S. Johnson (8) S. Johnson (4) Amway Arena 7-5 13 July 12 Detroit L 67-76 McWilliams, Congreaves (14) McWilliams (8) S. Johnson, Sam (5) Amway Arena 7-6 14 July 16 Charlotte L 50-56 Sales (15) McWilliams (6) S. Johnson (3) Amway Arena 7-7 15 July 17 Sacramento L 70-76 Sales (20) McWilliams (10) S. Johnson (9) Amway Arena 7-8 16 July 19 @ Washington W 77-52 Sam (20) S. Johnson (6) S. Johnson, Sales (6) MCI Center 8-8 17 July 20 @ New York L 56-61 McWilliams (13) S. Johnson (7) Sam (3) Madison Square Garden 8-9 18 July 23 @ Phoenix L 67-73 S. Johnson (22) Sam (6) S. Johnson (6) America West Arena 8-10 19 July 24 @ Sacramento W 73-64 S. Johnson (31) McWilliams (10) S. Johnson (5) ARCO Arena 9-10 20 July 27 @ Los Angeles L 60-81 McWilliams (17) McWilliams (7) Powell (4) Staples Center 9-11 21 July 29 New York L 65-73 (OT) S. Johnson (25) McWilliams (12) S. Johnson (5) Amway Arena 9-12
August Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Record 22 August 1 @ New York L 61-74 Sales (21) Sales (8) S. Johnson, Congreaves (3) Madison Square Garden 9-13 23 August 4 Cleveland W 70-62 McWilliams (16) McWilliams (9) S. Johnson (5) Amway Arena 10-13 24 August 5 @ Washington L 68-72 McWilliams (24) McWilliams (10) Sam (7) MCI Center 10-14 25 August 7 @ Charlotte L 60-64 S. Johnson (25) McWilliams (6) Sales (5) Charlotte Coliseum 10-15 26 August 9 New York L 75-80 Sales (24) McWilliams, Sales (6) Sales (5) Amway Arena 10-16 27 August 12 Cleveland W 55-54 Sales (16) McWilliams (15) Sales (5) Amway Arena 11-16 28 August 14 @ Cleveland W 73-61 Sales (17) S. Johnson (6) S. Johnson (8) Amway Arena 12-16 29 August 15 Washington W 81-54 Sam (19) McWilliams (9) Sales (6) Amway Arena 13-16 30 August 18 Detroit W 93-81 McWilliams (21) McWilliams (13) Powell (6) Amway Arena 14-16 31 August 20 @ Minnesota W 83-80 (OT) S. Johnson (20) McWilliams (8) S. Johnson, Sales, Powell (5) Target Center 15-16 32 August 21 @ Detroit L 68-74 S. Johnson (22) Sam (7) Powell (4) Palace of Auburn Hills 15-17

Depth

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Inactive
C	Taj McWilliams-Franklin	Tari Phillips
PF	Andrea Congreaves	Carla McGhee
SF	Sheri Sam	Yolanda Moore
SG	Nykesha Sales	Adrienne Johnson	Tora Suber	Kisha Ford
PG	Shannon Johnson	Elaine Powell

Player stats

Legend

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

= Denotes team leader(s) in that statistic.

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Andrea Congreaves	32	32	25.4	.500 (75-150)	.366 (15-41)	.830 (44-53)	3.2	1.1	0.80	0.20	6.5
Kisha Ford	8	0	5.6	.200 (1-5)	.000 (0-1)	1.000 (2-2)	0.8	0.0	0.30	0.30	0.5
Adrienne Johnson	29	0	7.7	.403 (25-62)	.125 (1-8)	.667 (6-9)	1.0	0.5	0.20	0.10	2.0
Shannon Johnson	32	32	35.8	.447 (151-338)	.364 (40-110)	.686 (105-153)	4.7	4.4	1.70	0.40	14.0
Carla McGhee	30	0	7.8	.319 (15-47)	.000 (0-0)	.833 (15-18)	1.5	0.3	0.30	0.10	1.5
Taj McWilliams	32	32	32.6	.480 (153-319)	.444 (20-45)	.667 (94-141)	7.5	1.6	1.80	1.20	13.1
Yolanda Moore	23	0	5.0	.476 (10-21)	.000 (0-1)	.500 (6-12)	0.6	0.0	0.20	0.00	1.1
Tari Phillips	32	0	5.0	.406 (52-128)	.000 (0-3)	.481 (26-54)	2.1	0.3	0.60	0.30	4.1
Elaine Powell	18	0	14.2	.515 (17-33)	.111 (1-9)	.545 (12-22)	1.3	1.8	0.50	0.20	2.6
Nykesha Sales	32	32	32.5	.385 (153-397)	.330 (95-118)	.805 (44-91)	4.2	2.8	2.20	0.30	13.7
Sheri Sam	32	32	34.0	.388 (134-345)	.328 (41-125)	.805 (55-80)	4.6	2.4	1.30	0.30	11.4
Tora Suber	25	0	4.6	.292 (7-24)	.111 (1-9)	.500 (5-10)	0.5	0.4	0.20	0.00	0.8

[2]

• 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[3]

Awards and honors

• Shannon Johnson, Guard, Orlando Miracle, All-WNBA Second Team[4]
• Shannon Johnson led the WNBA in Minutes Played with 1147[3]

References

1. WNBA.com: 1999 WNBA Draft Board
2. https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/ORL/1999.html
3. https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/1999.html
4. http://www.wnba.com/history/awards_1999.html