I am stalking Silver around from thread to thread disaggreeing with him.
I like Houston off the bench. Jamal needs room to grow IMHO, and is definitely in that spot of his career where more minutes is the key. And by more minutes, I am mean more minutes that matter - like at the end of the game.
You can be assured that not boxing out or taking a bad shot at the end of the games haunts his every night, and rightfully so, but he IS learning from them. With Houston taking those kinds of minutes (when he is ready), the Knicks may win a few more games, but so what? Been there, done that with Houston. He IS a valuable asset, but in the long run, he is not going to add value to the growth of the team by consuming starter minutes away from Jamal.
Also, by limiting Houston’s minutes, he may last until the end of his contract. Bringing him off the bench does give the second unit a primary scoring focus, which helps the other young guys around him, particularly Sweets in the post (spreading the floor) and Ariza (spreading the floor for a slasher/dunker).
Jamal has to learn that the game is played hard every minute of every game. No taking a second off on either the defensive end of the offensive end. His defensive effort late against Detroit and Rip was nice, but how about the first 40 minutes?
I like Jamal playing with Marb as a starter with Houston first off the bench to replace either of them.
