# 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.

## Transactions
### 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

| 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 |
| May 3, 1999 | Drafted Nykesha Sales and Shannon Johnson in the 1999 WNBA Allocation Draft |
| May 4, 1999 | Drafted Tari Phillips, Sheri Sam, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Carla McGhee and Elaine Powell in the 1999 WNBA Draft |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1999 game log Total: 15–17 (Home: 8–8; Road: 7–9) :
June: 5–3 (Home: 3–1; Road: 2–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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
### 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

## Awards and honors

* Shannon Johnson, Guard, Orlando Miracle, All-WNBA Second Team
* Shannon Johnson led the WNBA in Minutes Played with 1147