When is too much money not enough?

When you're new LA Clippers forward Josh Smith.

Smith, who has spent his career as one of the most enigmatic players in the league with his penchant to shoot ill-advised 3 pointers, decided to sign for the league's veteran minimum ($1.5 million) with the Clippers with the hopes of advancing to the NBA Finals. After a very mediocre stint in Detroit, he was let go by the Pistons and signed with the Rockets to join his longtime friend Dwight Howard. As a result, he reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time in his career, gaining respect around the league for realizing how to use his versatile talents to help a team win in the playoffs.

Now, we have seen many players (Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and more recently David West) who have taken less in order to increase the talent level on the team with the hopes of winning a title. That is usually considered very selfless, and we as fans like to see when players decide to see the bigger picture of holding the Larry 'O Brien trophy instead of chasing the millions. However, in a recent interview with PBT, Smith decided to declare that maybe the sacrifice might have been a bit hasty:

"It wasn't about the money because of the Detroit situation. But at the end of the day, you know, I do have a family. So it is going to be a little harder on me this year. But I'm going to push through it and try to do long-term after this year. But I think, this year, focusing on doing something special with this group of guys - we have the opportunity to do something special. Right now, this is what I want to focus on."

OK, so while he is correct in that he will be making less, he is still getting paid from his Detroit contract. Many people liken these comments to the infamous statement from former guard Latrell Sprewell when he said that he "had a family to feed" and wouldn't accept a deal worth $14 million. Overall Smith is getting $6.4 million and even as he made the sacrifice, the comments come off as insensitive at worst. While I won't claim to know how his finances are being handled, it does appear that he is still not seeing the big picture, as if he wasn't informed about the high cost of living in LA compared to the tax-free life in Texas.

The most successful athletes must have a tunnel-like focus in order to make it to the top of the mountain, but sometimes that focus becomes so myopic that they forget that they have been blessed with a talent that only the top 2% can maintain. Children hit the hardwood in the cold winter nights, dreaming of making even the minimum that Smith is playing for this year with every shot they attempt. Even if he didn't mean to sound so close-minded, Josh Smith has shown that there's a better way to present your "woe-is-me" case, and that's not to present getting paid $1.5 million as being difficult, even before taxes.

Word of advice Josh, and I say this as an Atlanta Hawks fan who saw you shoot 30% from 3 point-land for 9 years, here's something you may want to check out the next time you start claiming you have it so bad: