2008 Washington Mystics season

Summary

The 2008 WNBA season was the 11th season for the Washington Mystics women's professional basketball team. Despite a 10–16 record before the WNBA break for the Beijing Olympics, Mystics officials said that attendance at Verizon Center had risen from nearly 1,200 fans a game over the previous season, with total ticket revenue up 17 percent, and season-ticket sales for the 2008 season were up 20 percent from last season, bringing the team's base to nearly 3,000.[1]

2008 Washington Mystics season
CoachTree Rollins (8-14)
Jessie Kenlaw (2-10)
ArenaVerizon Center
Attendance9,096 per game
Results
Record10–24 (.294)
Place6th (Eastern)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

Off-season edit

On October 2, 2007, the Mystics announced that Tree Rollins would be named the permanent head coach. Rollins had been the interim head coach since the resignation of Richie Adubato on June 1, 2007.

Expansion draft edit

Yelena Leuchanka was selected in the 2008 Expansion Draft for the Atlanta Dream.[2]

WNBA draft edit

Round Pick Player Nationality School or club team
1 6 Crystal Langhorne   United States Maryland
2 20 Lindsey Pluimer   United States UCLA
3 34 Krystal Vaughn   United States Virginia Commonwealth

Transactions edit

Trades edit

April 22, 2008[3] To Washington Mystics
Taj McWilliams-Franklin and a first-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft
To Los Angeles Sparks
DeLisha Milton-Jones
August 12, 2008[4] To Washington Mystics
Tasha Humphrey, Eshaya Murphy, and a second-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft
To Detroit Shock
Taj McWilliams-Franklin

Free agents edit

Player Signed Former team
Amber Jacobs March 17, 2008 Indiana Fever
Kendra Wecker June 23, 2008 San Antonio Silver Stars
Player Left New team
Nikki Teasley March 24, 2008 Atlanta Dream (August 15, 2008)
Stacey Lovelace March 27, 2008 Atlanta Dream
Amber Jacobs June 23, 2008 Los Angeles Sparks (July 7, 2008)
Kendra Wecker August 12, 2008
Player Re-signed
Nakia Sanford February 21, 2008
Alana Beard February 25, 2008
Laurie Koehn February 28, 2008
Coco Miller September 14, 2008

Regular season edit

  • On July 19, 2008, Tree Rollins was fired by the team after an 8–14 start. Assistant coach Jessie Kenlaw was named as interim head coach.

Season standings edit

Eastern Conference W L PCT GB Home Road Conf.
Detroit Shock x 22 12 .647 14–3 8–9 16–4
Connecticut Sun x 21 13 .618 1.0 13–4 8–9 13–7
New York Liberty x 19 15 .559 3.0 11–6 8–9 11–9
Indiana Fever x 17 17 .500 5.0 11–6 6–11 12–8
Chicago Sky o 12 22 .353 10.0 8–9 4–13 10–10
Washington Mystics o 10 24 .294 12.0 6–11 4–13 6–14
Atlanta Dream o 4 30 .118 18.0 1–16 3–14 2–18

Season schedule edit

Date Opponent Score Leading scorer Attendance Record
May 17 @ Indiana 53-64 Nakia Sanford (14) 10,533 0-1
May 22 @ New York 60-79 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (26) 7,071 0-2
May 25 vs. Houston 69-66 Alana Beard (16) 10,441 1-2
May 27 vs. Atlanta 80-74 Alana Beard (25) 6,231 2-2
May 31 vs. Los Angeles 59-70 Monique Currie (15) 11,517 2-3
June 3 @ Phoenix 93-98 Alana Beard (33) 7,561 2-4
June 6 @ San Antonio 52-63 Alana Beard (13) 5,800 2-5
June 8 @ Connecticut 79-87 Monique Currie (28) 7,174 2-6
June 11 vs. Sacramento 76-79 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (23) 6,146 2-7
June 13 @ Chicago 64-57 Alana Beard (22) 2,600 3-7
June 18 @ Houston 67-63 Alana Beard (23) 7,054 4-7
June 20 vs. Atlanta 72-61 Alana Beard (18) 7,448 5-7
June 24 vs. Phoenix 90-98 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (31) 6,662 5-8
June 26 @ Los Angeles 77-74 (OT) Monique Currie (24) 8,144 6-8
June 29 @ Seattle 49-64 Alana Beard (16) 7,965 6-9
July 1 @ Sacramento 81-87 Alana Beard (31) 5,705 6-10
July 6 vs. San Antonio 75-83 Alana Beard (20) 10,439 6-11
July 8 vs. Indiana 50-48 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (20) 7,587 7-11
July 11 @ Detroit 66-79 Coco Miller (15) 8,596 7-12
July 13 vs. Connecticut 69-64 Nikki Blue (13) 9,610 8-12
July 17 @ New York 56-77 Alana Beard (15) 8,344 8-13
July 18 vs. Detroit 62-99 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) 6,834 8-14
July 20 vs. Seattle 89-57 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (22) 8,543 9-14
July 23 vs. New York 73-80 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (19) 16,121 9-15
July 25 @ Atlanta 81-75 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) 8,279 10-15
July 27 vs. Connecticut 60-82 Taj McWilliams-Franklin (11) 9,357 10-16
August 29 vs. Chicago 75-79 Alana Beard (18) 10,043 10-17
August 30 @ Minnesota 78-92 Alana Beard (27) 6,980 10-18
September 2 vs. Indiana 68-79 Alana Beard (17) 7,244 10-19
September 6 vs. Detroit 69-84 Monique Currie (15) 9,976 10-20
September 9 @ Chicago 59-78 Tasha Humphrey (15) 3,087 10-21
September 11 @ Detroit 66-78 Alana Beard (16)
Monique Currie (16)
8,145 10-22
September 13 @ Connecticut 81-87 Monique Currie (23) 8,652 10-23
September 14 vs. Minnesota 70-96 Alana Beard (17) 10,438 10-24

Player stats edit

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

Regular season edit

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Alana Beard 33 33 33.1 .395 .354 .733 3.6 3.5 1.7 0.6 16.1
Taj McWilliams-Franklin 26 26 33.2 .525 .280 .730 7.3 1.6 1.7 1.0 13.3
Monique Currie 34 34 28.6 .401 .375 .826 4.1 2.5 0.9 0.4 11.9
Tasha Humphrey 8 7 26.5 .415 .379 .588 6.1 1.1 0.5 0.3 11.1
Nakia Sanford 34 28 23.4 .452 .000 .398 5.7 1.2 0.6 0.3 6.7
Coco Miller 34 6 20.9 .355 .283 .625 2.5 1.4 0.8 0.2 5.3
Crystal Langhorne 34 6 15.6 .624 .000 .549 4.0 0.4 0.4 0.2 4.8
Crystal Smith 28 4 14.0 .355 .368 .806 1.0 0.9 0.5 0.1 4.3
Nikki Blue 26 22 20.7 .324 .438 .760 1.6 2.8 0.7 0.1 3.8
Andrea Gardner 22 0 8.1 .379 .000 .542 2.3 0.3 0.1 0.0 2.6
Laurie Koehn 30 0 4.8 .393 .418 .000 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.0 2.4
Bernice Mosby 24 1 7.6 .392 .000 .667 2.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 2.0
Amber Jacobs 6 3 13.7 .250 .300 .500 1.2 1.8 0.5 0.0 1.7
Eshaya Murphy 2 0 5.5 .333 .000 .000 1.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0
Krystal Vaughn 15 0 5.2 .158 .000 .600 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.8
Kendra Wecker 9 0 5.3 .118 .143 .000 1.2 0.8 0.3 0.0 0.6

Washington Mystics Regular Season Stats

Roster edit

Washington Mystics old roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs
G/F 20   Beard, Alana 5' 11" (1.8m) 160 lb (73kg) Duke
PG 32   Blue, Nikki 5' 8" (1.73m) 163 lb (74kg) UCLA
PF 25   Currie, Monique 6' 0" (1.83m) 177 lb (80kg) Duke
PF 52   Gardner, Andrea 6' 3" (1.91m) 190 lb (86kg) Howard University
C 34   Humphrey, Tasha 6' 3" (1.91m) Georgia
SG 12   Koehn, Laurie 5' 8" (1.73m) 145 lb (66kg) Kansas State
C 1   Langhorne, Crystal 6' 2" (1.88m) 184 lb (83kg) Maryland
SG 9   Miller, Coco 5' 9" (1.75m) 140 lb (64kg) Georgia
PF 33   Mosby, Bernice 6' 1" (1.85m) 172 lb (78kg) Baylor
SG 14   Murphy, Eshaya 5' 11" (1.8m) 164 lb (74kg) USC
C 43   Sanford, Nakia 6' 4" (1.93m) 200 lb (91kg) Kansas
PG 15   Smith, Crystal 5' 6" (1.68m) 121 lb (55kg) Iowa
PF 5   Vaughn, Krystal 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) VCU
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Athletic trainer



Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  •   Injured

References edit

  1. ^ "Sports Business Journal".
  2. ^ "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
  3. ^ Mystics: Mystics Acquire Taj Mcwilliams-Franklin
  4. ^ Mystics: Mystics Acquire Tasha Humphrey

External links edit

  • Tree Rollins replaced by Jessie Kenlaw as Head Coach
  • Mystics trade McWilliams-Franklin to the Shock