he was the head coach of the denver rockets during most of the 1970–1971 season. the rockets had begun the season under head coach joe belmont, but belmont was fired after the team lost 10 of its first 13 games. albeck replaced belmont as the rockets' head coach. the rockets went 27–44 under albeck to finish the season with a record of 30 wins and 54 losses. they tied the texas chaparrals for fourth place in the western division (28 games behind the indiana pacers) and on april 1, 1971 lost a one-game playoff to the chaparrals, 115–109, to determine who would advance into the aba western division semifinals. during the season denver's average home attendance dropped to 4,139 fans per game from 6,281 the year before. one week after the playoff loss, on april 8, 1971, albeck was replaced by alex hannum as denver's head coach. hannum resigned as coach of the san diego rockets to become the rockets' head coach, general manager and president. albeck then became player personnel director for the rockets.