Dear Santa: I want a title -- Avery

What would Avery Johnson want for Christmas?

“I would love to have a championship.”

Johnson should know – he preaches it enough and I did remind him – that titles aren’t handed out in December.

“You can leave it in December and open it in June.”

Got me there.

“It’s like a suit,” he continued. “Some suits you buy, you don’t want to wear it right now. You may save it. They’re not in season yet.”

As an owner of one suit that comes out of the closet about once a year, I really can’t relate. Back to the immediate Santa wish list.

“If we can do a better job of guarding penetration, I’ll take that as a gift, and do a better job of rebounding,” Johnson said. “Really getting those dirty rebounds. That’s something that we’ve haven’t really talked a lot about. We need to get those dirty, physical rebounds. Those two things kind of stand out for me right now.”