NBA Essentials: DC Comics Kills 'Krypto-Nate' T-Shirts

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "Two days after the 5-7½ Robinson spectacularly won the Slam-Dunk competition during All-Star weekend, the NBA announced plans to release a green Krypto-Nate T-shirt for sale at the NBA Store and NBA.com. One day later, the NBA scrapped its plan because of intellectual property issues with DC Comics, the originator of the Superman comic books.-- Marc Berman, NY Post

* "I heard about Dwight Howard's pregame ritual. That's pretty standard. I don't know if we express it publicly, but I think that's pretty normal for most. That's just Dwight being Dwight. -- Devin Harris, on The Nets Players Blog

* Shaquille O'Neal, talking about Dwight Howard and his Superman thing: "I can't be impressed by something I invented in '92. I mean, you look at what (Howard) is doing, I've been there and done that. Every street he is driving down in Orlando, I have been on that street. Every night club, every restaurant, I have been there and done that. Until he wins three, four championships, then we can talk about him. But right now, he is just like every other big guy. You can run and jump, but you haven't won yet.'' -- Florida Today (via @3QCMagic)

* Kobe Bryant believes teammate D.J. Mbenga resembles Sloth from The Goonies. -- J.E. Skeets at Ball Don't Lie