FOR THE RAPTORS, it's no longer a question of whether the glass is half full or half empty.

Sooner rather than later, they have to show whether it's just half a glass.

The only thing they proved leading up to the all-star break is that they haven't proved anything. Their laissez-faire attitude and humdrum form of December and early January was one thing. Their more passionate and focused approach leading up to the NBA's weekend of excess was quite another.

Which is live and which is Memorex? In the next few days, it is Glen Grunwald's lot once again to answer that, to fill up that glass or at least shake it up. Or to do what appears most likely ? nothing at all.

Grunwald is the only fellow capable of providing that kind of jolt in the Raptors' comfortable country club, where the seats are sold and urgency is not part of the agenda. He did it last February, in a makeover that, in an NBA where status quo and ennui rules, was as significant as it was bold. Out went half the dressing room, in came reinforcements, and their season was safe.

This is not the same kind of situation ? the Raptors were eight games over .500 at the break, two games ahead of last year's pace and gathering some momentum, in stark contrast to their steady, hopeless plodding of a year ago. And with only a few shopping days remaining before the Feb.21 trade deadline, Grunwald has dropped out, or so it seems, of the only sweepstakes of note. Every February, there is one player out there attracting trade interest above all others, and this time around, Denver's Nick Van Exel is it.