The Floridians
| The Floridians | ||
|---|---|---|
| founding | 1968 | |
| resolution | 1972 | |
| history |
Minnesota Muskies 1967–1968 Miami Floridians 1968–1970 The Floridians 1970–1972 |
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| Stadion | Miami Beach Convention Hall, Miami-Dade Junior College North, Dinner Key Auditorium, Curtis Hixon Hall, Bayfront Arena, Jacksonville Coliseum |
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| Location | Miami , Florida | |
| Club colors | orange and blue 1968–1970 orange, black and magenta 1970–1972 |
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| league | American Basketball Association | |
| division | Eastern Division | |
| Head coach |
Jim Pollard 1968–1969 Jim Pollard & Harold Blitman 1969–1970 Harold Blitman 1970 Bob Bass 1971–1972 |
|
| General manager | Dennis Murphy | |
| owner |
LP Shields & Fred Jefferson 1968-1969 Ned Doyle 1970-1972 |
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The Miami Floridians , from 1970 The Floridians , were a basketball franchise from Miami , Florida that played in the American Basketball Association from 1968 to 1972 . The team had two different team colors: originally orange and blue, later black, magenta and orange.
The Miami Floridians were the new name of the previous Minnesota Muskies team that played in Bloomington , Minnesota . The team reached the playoffs once in the two years under this name. The 1968/69 season was the most successful season with 43 wins and 35 losses. In the division semi-finals you could defeat the Minnesota Pipers 4: 3, before you lost in the division finals to the Indiana Pacers 1: 4.
The 1969/70 season was largely disappointing for the team, they missed the play-offs and was forced to play their home games in different cities: Miami at the Miami Beach Convention Hall, Tampa - St. Petersburg at Curtis Hixon Hall and the Bayfront Arena, Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum and in West Palm Beach at the Dinner Key Auditorium. The original owner sold the team at the end of that season. From then on, the team was known as The Floridians.
The 1970-71 season was better than the previous year, but it was evident that a slight name change, new colors and jerseys, and promotions like ball girls in bikinis weren't making South Florida a basketball stronghold. The team ended the season with 37 wins and 47 losses and qualified for the playoffs. They lost 4-2 to the Kentucky Colonels in the first round . In their last ABA season, the team again had more defeats than wins (36:48), but made it back to the playoffs. The Floridians were thrown 4-0 in the first round by the stronger Virginia Squires led by Julius Erving from the championship race.
The lack of success on either side of the square sealed the decline of the Floridians. At the end of the 1971-72 season, a group led by Cincinnati attorney Ron Grinker bid for the team in hopes that they would fill the void after the Cincinnati Royals migrated to Kansas City . The plan was to sell shares in the team to the public. Grinker reportedly said that if they had 5,000 owners, they could have 5,000 viewers.
Instead, the owner Ned Doyle dissolved the team. Professional basketball didn't return to Florida until 1977 when the Miami Heat began playing in the NBA . Orlando Magic followed a year later . The Heat wore replicas of the 1970-71 season jerseys in seven games in 2005-06 as part of the NBA's "Hardwood Classics" program. During these games, the dancers wore the Heat bikinis with white go-go boots like their predecessors the Floridians.