He is a coach without a whistle, a boss without an employee, a man contorted in perpetual, painful limbo.

Dennis Johnson shows up at Staples Center every day to eat lunch and check films and pick up his mail.

Except when the Clippers are interviewing somebody to take his job.

"Those days, I stay away," he said quietly. "If I saw another coach in the hallway, I can just imagine how both of us would feel. We'd both get that nervous smile. It just wouldn't be right."

He still has an office. He still has a title. But for more than two months now, he hasn't had a clue.

Is Dennis Johnson, who finished the last 24 games as the interim boss, still the head coach of the Clippers?

"I'm still on record as still being the head coach," he said Tuesday. "But do I think I'll get the job? Nobody knows."