It was the 2003 WNBA Draft. The Cleveland Rockers, with the No. 1 overall pick, selected Thomas, a 6-foot-2, four-time All-America forward from Mississippi State.

Ford went third to Detroit, where she’s become a two-time WNBA champion and the league’s preeminent rebounder. Pierson went fourth to Phoenix. She found a role in Detroit as the 2007 Sixth Woman of the Year.

Success and stability have been more elusive for Thomas. She’s never played a full season or for a winning team. Now she’s in Detroit, too, looking for the same experience her friends Ford and Pierson have enjoyed. She hopes to bring a new dimension to the Shock offense - with none of her prior misfortune.

“I hope this is a fresh start for me,” Thomas said Wednesday. “I’m still working, getting used to some of the things I didn’t know how to do or didn’t know what to do [working with] a new staff, new trainer. I mean, everything is better.”

Thomas is on her fourth WNBA team in six seasons - not including the expansion franchise Atlanta Dream, which swiped her from L.A. and traded her to Detroit in a matter of hours on Feb. 6. Shock GM Bill Laimbeer traded Ivory Latta to Atlanta for Thomas and the No. 18 draft pick (parlayed into West Virginia’s Yinka Sanni).

“I talked to Bill that day and, I don’t get excited much, but it’s a winning program and I know he’s the type of coach that can help anybody out,” Thomas said. “I was thrilled just to be with some of the girls I was friends with, just be on a winning team.”

The closest Thomas has come to a winning season was as a rookie, when the Rockers went 17-17 and played Detroit in the first round. Thomas, who led all rookies in scoring during the regular season (10.8 ppg), averaged 13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as Cleveland pushed the Shock to three games.

When the Rockers folded Thomas landed in San Antonio, which averaged fewer than 10 wins from 2004-06. The Silver Stars joined the league’s elite in 2007 - but Thomas was in Los Angeles on the Lisa Leslie-less Sparks squad that finished last in the West.

Though her scoring dipped to a career-low 7.7 points in L.A., Thomas had a career high in 3-pointers made and attempted (16-of-38). For Laimbeer, that element of her game made her an attractive candidate to replace Swin Cash at small forward. He had spent the off-season looking for a reliable shooter at the 3 in hopes of improving their offensive spacing.

Once an elite post player, Cash found herself crowded out of the paint by Kara Braxton, Ford and Pierson last season. In the WNBA Finals, Laimbeer said Phoenix would back off guarding Cash “and hurt our inside game,” helping the Mercury take the title in five games.

“I think our downfall in that series was the lack of another perimeter shooter,” he continued. “That’s what we got LaToya for: that 15, 18(-foot), up to 3-ball range from the 3 and 4 position. We need more of a threat from the perimeter there.”

Thomas should benefit from being a part of a star-studded lineup for the first time in her career. As the fourth or even fifth scoring option in the starting lineup, Thomas should have plenty of time to make scrambling defenses pay.

“Hey, if I’ve got the open looks I’m going to shoot it and knock it down, hopefully,” Thomas said. “I just want to be a complement to everyone.”

And stay healthy. Like Cash, who endured a torn ACL and then back spasms in the latter stages of her Detroit stay, Thomas has rarely played at full strength. She’s missed 35 games over the past three seasons.

After a career year in 2004 - she averaged 14.2 points - Thomas missed games with a torn labrum in 2005 and a torn meniscus in her left knee in 2006. Thomas had off-season knee surgery and is still adjusting to a new rehab regimen under Shock trainer Laura Ramus. “The rehab is different," Thomas said. “[I’m] working with the trainer at least 2-3 hours a day and that’s a good thing.”

Laimbeer is hoping she’ll regain the lift that helped her grab 5.1 rebounds per game as a rookie. She collected only 2.3 rebounds per game with the Sparks. “We need to improve her rebounding just a little bit, make her focus on that a little bit more,” he said.

Thomas welcomes the challenge, especially from Laimbeer, who has averaged 21 wins a season during his Shock tenure. She’ll do what it takes to experience one those 21-win seasons for herself. “He wants you to do things out of the ordinary,” Thomas said. “He just wants you to compete. Compete and win.”

Laimbeer said it’s hard to say how Thomas fits in right now. Most of the veterans she’ll be on the floor with are not in camp yet, including Pierson, whom Thomas formerly played alongside in Israel. No matter. The Shock’s only veteran newcomer feels right at home amongst the first-year players.

“I’m kind of new to Detroit, the Shock. I’m a veteran but I’m still new to it,” Thomas said, “so I still feel like a rookie.”

When you hear that from a former No. 1 pick, could anything sound better?