Editor's note: The above video is from Sept. 28, 2015.

When back spasms forced guard Klay Thompson to miss a game last month, the Warriors chose veteran guard/forward Brandon Rush to replace him in the starting lineup.

Twitter was abuzz with commentators, perhaps recalling Rush’s ineffectiveness last season, wondering why interim coach Luke Walton and the staff didn’t turn to veteran guard/forward Andre Iguodala.

When a sprained ankle sustained on Nov. 27 forced Harrison Barnes out of the lineup two weeks after Thompson’s one-game absence, Walton again turned to Rush over the more accomplished Iguodala.

“Andre is so big for what we do, and we love the chemistry and flow our second unit has,” Walton said at the time.

So where do the Warriors turn Friday night in Boston if they’re without both Barnes (definitely out) and Thompson (questionable)? Don’t look for Iguodala. When it comes to the starting lineup, it’s clearly ABA: Anybody But Andre.

Rush will continue to start for Barnes at forward. Leandro Barbosa is the next man up for Thompson. And if Barbosa, who was out sick Tuesday at Indiana, is unable to go, Walton will reach even further down the bench and call upon Ian Clark.

The reason is simple and altogether logical. Inserting Iguodala into the starting lineup would ruin the rotations with which the Warriors have been so startlingly successful. He’s irreplaceable as the leader of the second unit.

And as long as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are in the starting lineup, the first unit can absorb most anyone else on the roster.

“That’s one of the great, great things about this team is our guys are confident, all the way down the line,” Walton said Wednesday in Boston. “We’ve seen that consistently with Brandon and Ian, when they’ve been filling in for Harrison. If Klay and/or LB can’t go, it’ll just be more minutes for different guys to step up.

“But we’re going to prepare the same and we’ll be confident that we can still compete and win games.”

There it is. Can’t be any clearer. Iguodala is to the second unit what Green is to the starting lineup. As the designated traffic cop on defense and a facilitator on offense Iguodala is in the unusual position of being too valuable for the starting lineup.