TheMiami Floridians, later in their history known simply asThe Floridians, were a professional basketball franchise in the original, now-defunctAmerican Basketball Association. The Miami Floridians played in the ABA from1968 through1970 when they became simply The Floridians. The team had two color schemes: their originalred,blue, and white, and their laterblack,magenta, andorange.

Miami Floridians The Floridians
Conference	None
Division	Eastern Division
Founded	1967
History	Minnesota Muskies 1967–1968 Miami Floridians 1968–1970 The Floridians 1970–1972
Arena	Miami Beach Convention Hall,Dade County Junior College North,Dinner Key Auditorium,Curtis Hixon Hall,Bayfront Center,Jacksonville Coliseum
Location	Miami, Florida Tampa, Florida (1970–1972) St. Petersburg, Florida (1970–1972) Jacksonville, Florida (1970–1972)
Team colors	Orange andBlue    (1968–70) Black,Magenta andOrange     (1970–72)
Team manager	Dennis Murphy
Head coach	Jim Pollard 1968–1969 Jim Pollard &Harold Blitman 1969–1970
Ownership	L.P. Shields & Fred Jefferson 1968–1969 Ned Doyle 1970–1972

The Miami Floridians began as theMinnesota Muskies, a charter ABA franchise who played inBloomington, Minnesota at theMet Center and wore blue and gold. The Muskies finished with the league's second-best record, but wretched attendance figures (officially 2,800 per game, a figure that was likely padded) led owner Larry Shields to conclude that the team could not be viable in the Twin Cities. He sold minority shares to a group of Florida businessmen and moved the team to Miami. However, in order to pay leftover debts in Minnesota, Shields sold Rookie of the YearMel Daniels to theIndiana Pacers, a deal now reckoned as the most lopsided trade in ABA history.

The Floridians never attracted a large following, despite numerous promotions—including ballgirls wearing white bikinis and go-go boots. However, the team did manage to make the playoffs three out of the four years of their existence. The Floridians' first homes were theMiami Beach Convention Center and the Convention Center Annex.^[1] Coached by formerMinneapolis Lakers greatJim Pollard, the1968–69 season was the most successful for the Miami Floridians by far, finishing their first season in Florida with a 43–35 record and defeating the defending championMinnesota Pipers (who played in the city the Floridians had just abandoned) in the Eastern Division semifinals 4 games to 3, before losing in the divisional finals to theIndiana Pacers 4 games to 1.

The1969–70 season was largely forgettable for the Miami Floridians. They split their home games betweenDinner Key Auditorium andMiami-Dade Junior College's North Campus gym. Dinner Key, a formeraircraft hangar, was perhaps the most infamous building in ABA history. It had no air conditioning and would often get quite hot inside, forcing management to throw open the doors; players would then have to adjust their shots by the ocean breezes that whistled onto the court. The Floridians dismissed Pollard during the season and namedHal Blitman of Cheyney State College as their head coach.^[2] The minority partners began taking a greater role in team operations, often trading players without Blitman's knowledge. Not surprisingly given the constant turnover on the roster, the Floridians finished 23-61 and missed the playoffs. The team's original owners, Shields and Fred Jefferson, sold the Floridians at the end of the season.

Following the 1969–70 season, new ownerNed Doyle dropped "Miami" from the team's name and made it a "regional" franchise, scheduling games in Miami (back at the Miami Beach Convention Center),Tampa-St. Petersburg at theCurtis Hixon Hall andBayfront Arena,Jacksonville at theJacksonville Memorial Coliseum, and inWest Palm Beach at theWest Palm Beach Auditorium.^[1] In an unprecedented move, Doyle "fired" the entire team (all players were either traded or released prior to the start of their new season) and kept the coach.^[3] The team replaced Blitman after an 18–30 start withBob Bass.^[4] Bass was able to turn the team around and the Floridians finished fourth in the Eastern Division with a record of 37–47. The Floridians made the playoffs, but lost their series to theKentucky Colonels, 4–2.

For the 1971–72 season, the Floridians split their home games between Miami and Tampa. They again finished in fourth place in the Eastern Division, with a record of 36–48. Once again the team made the playoffs and once again they lost their series, this time to theVirginia Squires, 4–0.^[1]

The Floridians has to use the gymnasium ofDade County Junior College for their two playoff games reportedly because the Center had booked other events not thinking the team would make the playoffs.^[5] The dreadful attendance for their two home playoff games against the Squires convinced Doyle that the team could not be viable inSouth Florida. After a deal to relocate toCincinnati fell through and attempts to find a bigger market inAlbuquerque,San Diego, andOmaha turned up nil for different reasons, he disbanded the franchise in what was considered to be a tax write-off in June 1972. Ironically, San Diego would end up getting their own ABA expansion team in theSan Diego Conquistadors in what essentially became a replacement for both The Floridians and thePittsburgh Condors (who also considered San Diego as an option to move their franchise before shutting down operations) months later. Big-time basketball wouldn't return to Florida until theNBA expansion team, theMiami Heat, played their first season in 1988. TheOrlando Magic followed suit with them a year later.

The Heat franchise paid tribute to the Floridians franchise in recent years by wearing near replicas (the jerseys instead had "Miami" on the front to go along with a smaller "Floridians" wordmark on the shorts) of the 1970–71 (and 71-72) Floridians home and away uniforms for several games in the 2005–06 and 2011–12 seasons as part of the NBA's "Hardwood Classics Night" program.^[6][7]

Notes:

• ¹ Inducted as a player.

• Remembering the ABA: The Floridians
• Miami Heat Floridians website