DeSagana Diop in Dallas

While Diop was never that great of a player in Cleveland, he was always something of a crowd favorite. He was drafted number 8 in the 2001 draft in a clear mistake by the Cavs at the time, but it didn't seem to matter to Cavs fans as the years progressed. They were too busy hoping for him to do well.

Unfortunately, he was never able to do well enough for the Cavs to keep him around. He became a free agent this off-season and the Mavericks signed Diop to a 3-year $7 million contract and he is the leading candidate to be their backup center this season.

DeSagana Diop showed Sunday night why the Mavericks signed him to a three-year, $7 million free-agent contract.

And then some.

Diop blocked five shots and scored the game-winning basket as the Mavs eased to a dramatic 104-102 win over the New York Knicks.

Diop's winning basket came on a tip-in as time expired, improving the Mavs' preseason record to 2-1.

There were some detractors. WKNR's Kenny Roda often referred to Diop as 'Lasagna Flop' on his afternoon radio show, but it always seemed like he was making fun of the Cavs more than DeSagana himself. And despite the fact that there was plenty of draft-day criticism to go around amongst the Cavs picks in recent memory, (Trajan Langdon anyone?) you couldn't help but root for such a seemingly nice guy.

So, here's hoping Diop can finally become the player we all wanted him to be in Cleveland.