Ken Berger

Kiki Vandeweghe has accepted the Nets' interim coaching job, with veteran Del Harris likely joining him on the bench as his lead assistant, CBSSports.com has confirmed.

Vandeweghe, the Nets' assistant GM, will take over after Wednesday night's home game against Dallas, in which the Nets could break the NBA record with an 0-18 start, the worst in league history. Tom Barrise will serve as the sacrificial coach against the Mavs, a person familiar with the decision said.

UPDATE: A second person directly involved in the discussions said Harris' participation isn't yet finalized, but that Harris is expected to arrive in New Jersey Wednesday and sign a contract for the rest of the season. The notion that Harris will serve as co-coach is inaccurate; Vandeweghe has assistant coach experience and will focus on player development, as he did with the Mavericks early in the decade. Harris, a longtime sideline tactician, will help with in-game strategy much the way he and Bernie Bickerstaff did with Vinny Del Negro last season. But, as one source put it, "The buck stops with the head coach."

Vandeweghe, who will be introduced in his new role during a Tuesday morning news conference at the Nets' practice facility, also is one of the key figures who've helped run Pete Newell's prestigious big-man camp for years.

"This is not something he's being forced to do," a person close to Vandeweghe said Tuesday. "This is something he wants."

Like team president Rod Thorn and deposed coach Lawrence Frank, Vandeweghe is in the last year of his contract. So in addition to an experienced lead assistant, he would like assurances that he could return to his front office position after the season. The situation would be similar to Portland GM Kevin Pritchard finishing the 2004-05 season on the bench and returning upstairs after Nate McMillan was hired.

Thorn and Vandeweghe discussed this and agreed that if Thorn is making the decision, Vandeweghe will be back in the front office next season. But with the ownership situation up in the air, nothing can be decided on that front because neither Vandeweghe nor Thorn knows who will be making such decisions once the team is sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. The sale of the team is expected to be finalized by the end of the calendar year.

Vandeweghe's first game would be Friday night at home against the Bobcats. He takes over a team still recovering from the shock of Frank's firing, demoralized and embarrassed by an 0-17-and-counting start, and still decimated by injuries. The starting backcourt of Devin Harris and Courtney Lee only recently returned from injury, and projected starters Yi Jianlian and Jarvis Hayes remain out, along with key reserves Eduardo Najera, Keyon Dooling, and Tony Battie. The Nets have among the most available cap space in the league as they pursue a strategy of luring two top-shelf free agents next summer. But despite a string of legal victories in their pursuit of a move to a new arena in Brooklyn, repeated delays have pushed that possibility into the 2011-12 season.

A key question is who will be making the decisions with all that cap space, as Thorn and Vandeweghe don't know if the new ownership group will retain them beyond this season.

Making matters worse, the Nets are having trouble drawing fans even with the prospect of witnessing the NBA record for season-opening futility Wednesday night. In its Off the Dribble blog, the New York Times reported Monday that seats for the Dallas game were being unloaded for as little as $2 in the upper bowl and $8 in the lower level. Talk about futility.