Minnesota Muskies (1967-68)
Miami Floridians (1968-69 to 1969-70)
The Floridians(1970-71 to 1971-72)

Year-to-Year Notes (courtesy Robert Bradley)

1967-68 (50-28) Second Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 2,473

2Feb67 Formation of ABA is announced, with a Minneapolis franchise awarded for $30,000 to Larry P. Shields (President of the Shields Development Company), A.E. "Eddie" Holman (owner of the Holman Oil and Gas Drilling Corp.) and Phil Barrett .... Team named the Minnesota Muskies, after the muskellunge, a large pike native to Minnesota .... Tom Carney is named President .... Albert Rossman is named Vice President .... Dennis Murphy is named Vice President in Charge of Operations .... Former Minneapolis Laker star Jim Pollard is named coach .... Play in the Metropolitan Sports Center .... Draft Mel Daniels, Phil Jackson (who signs with New York of the NBA), Sam Smith, Irv Inniger, Gary Gregor (who signs with Phoenix of the NBA), Rich Jones and Ron Perry .... Sign Donnie Freeman, Skip Thoren and Les Hunter .... 9Jan68 Daniels, Freeman and Hunter play in the All-Star Game and Pollard coaches the East team .... Daniels is named ABA Rookie of the Year, First Team All-ABA and to the ABA All-Rookie Team .... Defeat Kentucky 3 games to 2 in playoffs before losing to Pittsburgh 4 games to 2

1968-69 (43-35) Second Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 3,197

A court rules that a contract signed by Lou Hudson with the Muskies is invalid, holding that the Muskies did not have "clean hands" in their dealing with Hudson -- Hudson is allowed to stay with Atlanta of the NBA .... Draft Don Sidle .... May68 Daniels is traded to Indiana for James Dawson, Ron Kozlicki, a first round draft pick and $75,000 .... The Muskies explore the possibility of moving the franchise to Jersey City, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland or Philadelphia for the 1968-69 season .... 24May68 The Muskies are moved to Miami as the Miami Floridians .... Acquire Willie Murrell from Denver .... 16Dec68 Trade Perry to New York for Maurice McHartley .... Acquire Andy Anderson from Oakland .... 28Jan69 Freeman, Hunter and Thoren play in the All-Star Game .... Freeman is named Second Team All-ABA .... Defeat Minnesota 4 games to 3 in playoffs before losing to Indiana 4 games to 1

1969-70 (23-61) Sixth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 2,724

Draft Larry Cannon and Wil Jones .... 30Jun69 Hunter is sold to New York .... 29Nov69 After a 5-15 start, Pollard is relieved as coach and replaced by Hal Blitman .... 24Jan70 Freeman plays in the All-Star Game .... 8Feb70 Purchase George Lehmann from New York .... 22Feb70 Kentucky's Darel Carrier scores 53 points against the Floridians .... Anderson is traded to Los Angeles for Simmie Hill .... Finish in last place .... 23Mar70 Draft John Hummer (who signs with Buffalo of the NBA) and Sam Robinson .... 13Apr70 The league assumes operation of the franchise .... Freeman is named Second Team All-ABA .... Fail to qualify for the playoffs

1970-71 (37-47) Fourth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 4,020

Ned Doyle becomes owner and team president .... .... Cannon is traded to Denver for Larry Jones .... Team becomes a "regional franchise" playing games in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville and renames itself "The Floridians" .... Jun70 Freeman is traded to Los Angeles for Mack Calvin and Tom "Trooper" Washington .... Jun70 Jones, Al Cueto and Erv Staggs are traded to Memphis for Ron Franz and the rights to Dave Nash .... Sign Al Tucker .... 15Jan71 Blitman is relieved as coach and replaced by Bob Bass .... 22Jan71 Draft Willie Long .... Acquire Warren Davis from Pittsburgh .... Trade Rich Johnson to Carolina for Ira Harge .... 23Jan71 Calvin and Jones play in the All-Star Game .... 6Mar71 Stew Johnson of Pittsburgh scores 62 points against the Floridians .... Calvin is named First Team All-ABA .... Robinson is named to the ABA All-Rookie Team .... Lose in the first round of playoffs to Kentucky 4 games to 2

1971-72 (36-48) Fourth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 2,108

14May71 Washington is traded to New York for a draft choice .... Bass assumes the duties of General Manager .... Sep71 Send a draft choice and cash to Indiana for Warren Jabali (who had changed his named from Warren Armstrong) .... 29Jan72 Calvin and Jabali play in the All-Star Game .... Trade Harge to Utah for Manny Leaks .... 4Apr72 Virginia's Julius Erving scores 53 points against the Floridians in a playoff game .... Lose in the first found of playoffs to Virginia 4 games to 0 .... Draft Dwight Davis (who signs with Cleveland of the NBA) and Swen Nater .... 4Jun72 The league announces it will attempt to relocate the Floridians franchise to a larger television market .... 13Jun72 The Floridians franchise is purchased by the league and disbanded .... 13Jun72 Players from the Floridians and the Pittsburgh Condors are dispersed to other ABA teams in a special draft .... Denver selects Jabali, Carolina selects Calvin, Denver selects Long, Memphis selects Franz, Virginia selects Nater, and Utah selects Jones

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