National Basketball Association

Report: Vandeweghe to coach Nets rest of season

Published Dec. 1, 2009 3:25 a.m. ET

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He doesn't have to worry about being on the bench for a potential record-setting loss, though.

Vandeweghe won't coach his first game with the team until Friday, a person with knowledge of the team's plans told The Associated Press on Monday. The person requested anonymity because the Nets don't plan to announce their plans until a press conference Tuesday morning.

Tom Barrise, who led the team Sunday night after Lawrence Frank was fired, will coach again Wednesday against Dallas, when the Nets can set an NBA record with an 18th straight loss to begin a season.

Former NBA head coach Del Harris will join the Nets as Vandeweghe's assistant. The pair previously worked together in Dallas.

The Nets fired Frank, their coach for 6 1/2 seasons, on Sunday morning. They lost to the Lakers under Barrise, tying the 1988-89 Miami Heat and 1999 Los Angeles Clippers by losing 17 consecutive games to open a season.

They interviewed candidates Monday and decided to go with Vandeweghe, who previously worked as an assistant with the Mavericks but has never been a head coach.

But with an injury-depleted roster that wasn't competitive during most of its four-game trip out West, coaching experience is far from the team's only problem.

"It doesn't matter who the coach is. If we don't change some of the habits, not much is going to change throughout the team," point guard Devin Harris said Sunday night.

The Nets likely didn't have many options, because they can't make a long-term commitment to any potential candidates.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has a deal to buy 80 percent of the team, a sale that could be approved by NBA owners by the end of next month. If it goes through, he could decide to bring in his own basketball people.

So Vandeweghe's future with the team is uncertain no matter how he fares as coach.

Vandeweghe, whose contract expires after this season, becomes the second GM to assume the coaching duties of an NBA team this season. Jeff Bower moved to the bench when the New Orleans Hornets fired Byron Scott.