The Magic began the season with four on their roster -- and they've needed every one of them.

No position has been hit harder by injuries -- and inconsistency.

Smith is looking like a genius.

Where are we now in this soap opera called "As The Shooting Guard Turns?"

Upside down, that's where.

The pecking order when the season unfolded went like this:

1. Mickael Pietrus.

2. J.J. Redick.

3. Keith Bogans.

4. Courtney Lee.

Now it's practically flip-flopped:

1. Lee.

2. Redick.

3. Bogans.

4. Pietrus (injured)

All you need to know is that every shooting guard has started at least one game -- and has come off the bench at some point.

Let's review:

*Lee, a rookie who played all four years in college (Western Kentucky), is now the unlikely starter. He made his fourth consecutive start on Sunday night against the San Antonio Spurs, having replaced Bogans when Bogans was gimpy with a sore ankle.

Who had Courtney in the pool when the year began? He didn't get off the bench the first three games.

But now there's a possibility that the Magic might not be able to get Lee out of the lineup. "We're planning on, right now, that Courtney is our starter," Coach Stan Van Gundy said.

In Lee's past 19 games before Sunday, he scored in double figures eight times -- including twice in his past two starts. He's remarkably cool under fire and a good shooter who has more success creating his own shot than Bogans and Redick do.

*Redick has been up and down more than a prizefighter, counted out before coming back. What a dizzying ride it has been for J.J.

He won the backup spot behind Pietrus to begin the season, then lost it. Then he found his way into the starting lineup when Pietrus got hurt. He then lost his shooting touch, of all things, and lately has rediscovered it.

At last look, J.J. was back in the rotation behind Lee, with Pietrus out and Bogans recovering from a sprained ankle. He looks more confident than at any other time in his two-plus-year Magic career, aggressively looking for his shot. "J.J. will be the first guard off the bench," Van Gundy said.

*Bogans looks to be the odd-man-out now. He started the year behind Pietrus and Redick, overtook Redick and then suffered a fractured thumb. He returned quickly, replaced Redick for 15 consecutive starts and then sprained an ankle.

Bogans probably came back too fast from the ankle ailment. Needing to stay on the floor during a contract year tends to raise your pain tolerance.

With Lee looking as a keeper and Pietrus armed with a long-term contract and Redick red-hot, Bogans could be traded, or not re-signed this summer.

*Pietrus was a veteran free-agent acquisition projected to start, and he did so for 15 of the first 16 games. But he has his right hand is in a cast/splint for the second time this season. He has missed 18 games because of injuries.

He is not expected to return from a fractured wrist for another three weeks.

It's as if Pietrus' career with the Magic has yet to begin. He's Orlando's biggest and most athletic two-guard -- the best defender -- but hasn't been able to stay on the court with his new teammates.

No one can predict who'll be standing at the end of the season the way these shooting guards have traded places. But Smith has proven that he has just enough of them.