When Iowa State center Kelvin Cato came to ISU from DeKalb, Ga.,, expectations were out of this world. Even though the 6-foot-11 center had never played high school basketball, he immediately became a menacing presence.

”Baseball was my first love and basketball was my second love,” Cato said. ”Now, it’s my first love. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life and I’m just going to work hard at it.”

Blocking shots at a constant rate and crashing home thunderous dunks, Cato was instant fan favorite. After only 79 games of college basketball, Cato was considered one of the top centers in the draft.

The Dallas Mavericks chose Cato with the 15th pick in the first round of Wednesday night’s NBA draft and within half an hour, they traded their rights to him to Portland for the rights to Chris Antsey, a center from Australia.

Dallas made the trade shortly after Cato, who was at the draft site in Charlotte, N.C., to hear his name called, had donned a Mavericks cap as he walked to the podium for the traditional handshake with NBA commissioner David Stern.

The value of Cato, although it definitely will be payed out in cash, may never be realized by the 255-pounder.

Potential is the word which best describes Cato. With only two-and-a half years of basketball under his belt, the former center has gone from being a strictly defensive- minded shot blocker to an overall talent.

“I think that’s part of the intrigue with Kelvin, that he has a very high upside. He’s only 21 years old. He’s played just two-and-a half seasons of basketball. I think with continued skills, he can add to the soft shot he already has,” said Iowa State head basketball coach Tim Floyd.

While living in Atlanta, Cato dropped out of high school and became a murder suspect — a charge that was dropped when authorities determined it was a passenger in his car, not Cato, who shot a man to death in March 1992.

Before the 1996-97 NCAA tournament, Cato had totaled 32 games in which he scored more than 10 points per game, and 11 games in which he scored more than 15 points.

But Cato’s defense is still the corner stone that the Trailblazers were looking to capitalize on.

In Cato’s first season at ISU, 1995-96, he registered 71 blocks in 27 games, erasing the previous mark of Meyer.

The 6-foot-11 Cato was the second Iowa State center in three years to be drafted by Dallas in the first round. The Mavericks selected Loren Meyer with the 24th pick in 1995 and he also was sent packing. Meyer spent a little more than one season in Dallas before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in December of 1996.

Meyer had been Iowa State’s career leader in blocked shots before Cato passed him.

In the 1996-97 season, Cato smashed his own record by recording 104 blocks in 24 games. Cato’s two-year total of 175 blocked shots in 51 games erased the previous record of 134 blocked shots by Loren Meyer, another current NBA player. Even more impressive, considering it took Meyer 111 games to total 134 blocks.

Cato’s 104 blocks in the 1996-97 campaign was more than the entire Cyclone team recorded in four of the last five seasons.

The 1995-96 team tallied 99 blocks, the 1993-94 team tallied 97, the 1992-93 team collected only 81 and the 1991-92 team finished with 95 rejections.

Thetrailblazers are looking for the same type of production at the next level.

“I really believe he is going to be an NBA player. He’s an extremely talented young man. He’s a presence defensively,” said Siena head basketball coach Bob Beyer.

Beyer was right. Cato is now at the next level with a future as bright as any rookie in the draft.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.