“I think every year, the word that we as fans and people who have been a part of the organization at one point in time, the word I always say is ‘hopeful,’” Thomas told MLive. “That’s all we can do is hope that this time around we have the right mix of people to get the job done.” “When I talk about the Detroit Pistons, I always talk about the Pistons having very high standards. At one point in time, our goal was to be talked about in the same breath as the Celtics and the Lakers. Clearly, over the last 10 years or so, we’ve fallen dramatically.”