Recap
The Miami Floridians, later in their history known simply as The Floridians, were a professional basketball franchise in the original, now-defunct American Basketball Association. The Miami Floridians played in the ABA from 1968 through 1970 when they became simply The Floridians. The team had two color schemes: their original red, blue, and white, and their later black, magenta, and orange.
The Miami Floridians began as the Minnesota Muskies, a charter ABA franchise who played in Bloomington, Minnesota at the Met 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 Year Mel Daniels to the Indiana 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 the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Convention Center Annex. Coached by former Minneapolis Lakers great Jim Pollard, the 1968-69 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 Minnesota 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 the Indiana Pacers 4 games to 1.
The 1969-1970 season was largely forgettable for the Miami Floridians. They split their home games between Dinner Key Auditorium and Miami-Dade Junior College North's gym. Dinner Key, a former aircraft 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 named Hal Blitman of Cheyney State College as their head coach. 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.
