East Rutherford, NJ (My Sportsbook) - The winless New Jersey Nets have named Kiki Vandeweghe the team's interim head coach, replacing the fired Lawrence Frank.

New Jersey has tied an NBA record with an 0-17 start and could become the first team to open a campaign with 18 consecutive losses on Wednesday when the Dallas Mavericks visit the Izod Center.

Vandeweghe has been serving as the Nets' general manager since May 2008, after first joining the organization on December 31, 2007 as special assistant to club president Rod Thorn.

"Kiki has a broad range of NBA experience, which includes his 13-year career as an All-Star caliber player and then as a coach and front office executive," said Thorn. "We feel that he is the right person at this juncture to help in continuing to develop our young players and achieve our overall objectives for the remainder of this season."

Frank was fired on Sunday, prior to New Jersey's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Assistant coach Tom Barrise ran the club against the Lakers, a 106-87 setback that dropped the Nets to 0-17. The 17 straight losses match the worst league start, originally accomplished by the 1988-89 expansion Miami Heat and also by the Los Angeles Clippers in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.

Barrise will coach the team for a last time Wednesday night before yielding to Vandeweghe, who will remain at the helm for the rest of the season.

Vandeweghe had previously served as GM for the Denver Nuggets from 2001-2006, reshaping the club which won only 17 games in 2002-2003 into a solid playoff contender in the Western Conference. Perhaps his best move in that period was selecting Carmelo Anthony with the third-overall pick in the 2003 draft.

Prior to his time in Denver, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Mavericks.

The UCLA graduate was a two-time NBA All-Star over a 13-year career with the Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Knicks and Clippers. He averaged 19.7 points in 810 NBA games.

Joining Vandeweghe on the Nets bench will be former NBA head coach Del Harris, who had been serving as the general manager of the Frisco team in the NBA Development League.