Raptors Roster Thoughts Post Reported Quentin Richardson Release

One small bit of Raptors' news over the weekend that we didn't touch on as of yet.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Toronto Raptors have released swingman Quentin Richardson, acquired earlier this summer from the New York Knicks in the Andrea Bargnani trade.

Not a huge surprise here considering a) it was unlikely Richardson would report to camp and b) the Dinos weren't exactly looking to build this year's team with him as a core piece.

But the cut does give the Raps some breathing room, both under the cap, and under the roster limit as by my count, the club now has 14 players officially under contract, breaking down positionally about like so:

PG:  Kyle Lowry, DJ Augustin, Dwight Buycks

SG:  DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross

SF:  Rudy Gay, Landry Fields, Steve Novak, Austin Daye

PF:  Amir Johnson, Tyler Hansbrough, Quincy Acy

C:  Jonas Valanciunas, Aaron Gray

With Richardson coming off the books, that does give Raptors' GM Masai Ujiri an opening to add someone if he so chooses, but my guess is that he leaves this spot open for flexibility sake during the season.

The club has lots of options at point guard, a decent rotation of big man, and a glut of players who can play the 2 or 3 spots.  In terms of skill sets, they've got three-point shooters in Lowry, Ross, Novak and Day, (and Amir Johnson!!!), but could use some more help defending on the perimeter.  A few more players who could facilitate ball movement from the non-PG position wouldn't hurt either.

So while it's likely that Ujiri stands pat, perhaps we see him bring another wing to camp who he believes can be an asset as the season unfolds.  There are still a few intriguing free agent names out there, and maybe the team simply grabs someone like Chris Wright or Trevor Mbakwe from their Summer League roster that they want to take a closer look at.

Or hey...Hedo could be available!