How Low Can They Go? Johnson Stays in Limbo

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.”

So goes the NBA’s oddest summer situation, a head coach determined to coach even while his organization is trying to replace him.

Johnson still drives more than an hour to work each day from his high desert home.

Yet each day, by the time he arrives downtown, he knows his office could be locked and his job could be eliminated.

“This is the first time I’ve been vying to be a head coach, so I don’t know if it’s normal or not,” he said.

Johnson still spends three hours at L.A. Southwest College some mornings, working out prospects and current stars.

Even though none of them might play for him.

“I do my job no matter what,” he said. “I’m under contract. I signed that paper. Things may not look good, they may talk to a whole lot of other people, but that’s still my name on that paper, and I’ll live up to it.”

He flew to Chicago to interview and scout players at the NBA’s pre-draft camp, even while the Clippers were interviewing the likes of Mike Dunleavy, Paul Silas and Rick Carlisle to replace him.

He analyzes film and teaches fundamentals, even while his chances of remaining a Clipper grow fundamentally smaller.

“People tell me, ‘I’m saying a prayer for you,’ ” he said.

Like many struggling front-office employees, he is just another small portrait of dignity on the walls of Clipper chaos.

Because of owner Donald Sterling’s insecurities and indecisiveness, the Clippers traditionally wait until the end of summer to hire a coach.

And if the new guy is not Johnson, and does not like Johnson? Then Johnson goes from head coach to the unemployment line at a time when other assistant’s jobs have been filled.

The Clippers don’t want to make him their permanent coach because they think they can do better.

But they don’t want to dismiss him because they are afraid they will do worse.

So there Johnson sways, at least until after Thursday’s draft, maybe until August, dangling by his future, his pockets stuffed with pride and ego, his fingers trying not to tremble.

“Hopefully, the way I’ve conducted myself will help me here,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, it will show people I am ready.”

*

Will Dennis Johnson be a good NBA coach? Who knows?

His record last season was 8-16, but by the time he replaced Alvin Gentry, the Clippers had descended into their usual malingering madness.

His coaching debut occurred with Lamar Odom, Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi on the bench with injuries, so it’s a wonder he won even a handful of games.

By the time the season reached its final two weeks, he had shown that he was unafraid to bench the starters for entire fourth quarters, and the team won five of its last 10.

Then there was that final-game stunning victory against Portland, costing the Trail Blazers a higher playoff seeding and forcing them into a doomed first-round matchup with the Dallas Mavericks.

So Johnson did some good things, yeah.

“By the end, I think the players realized, I will argue with you, I will fight you, but in the end, if somebody is coming at you, I will defend you,” Johnson said.

The problem is, there are not many people who can defend Johnson.

Even as early as last January, it was clear that he was not the Clippers’ first choice.

Otherwise, they would have fired Gentry long before March.

There are some who think Johnson deserves a chance to coach a team that he has steered through a training camp -- “If I haven’t had a chance to form them, how do you know what I can do?” he said.

But others worry that, because he wouldn’t have the credibility of a Dunleavy or a Carlisle, the players would be in full mutiny even before the end of that training camp.

Guess those history buffs have forgotten that during a 14-year NBA career, Johnson helped his teams win three NBA championships while being named the Finals MVP once.

Even Kobe Bryant hasn’t done all that yet.

“That’s the one thing that has really stuck in my gut,” Johnson said. “When people say the Clippers have to get a higher profile guy that the players will listen to. I’ve gone farther than most people as a player. I’ve been on more pedestals than most players.

“Every coach has to be given a shot before they can become high profile. Now I’m in line for that shot.”

Standing quietly and admirably, in a line long and twisted.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.