Egregious ESPN projections ignore the Timberwolves' biggest strengths

Entering the offseason, the mid-market Minnesota Timberwolves had the highest payroll in the NBA. That led to speculation that they would look to cut costs to stay out of the second apron, with the most obvious trade option for them being former number-one pick Karl-Anthony Towns.

Finding a team that would be interested in him seemed like a head scratcher despite his strong production, until they traded him to the New York Knicks. That deal saw the Knicks send Julius Randall, Donte DiVincenzo, and a protected first to Minnesota for Towns.

New York having to give up both Randall and DiVincenzo, who played a big role on their team last season after setting the team record for most threes, seems like a steal for the Wolves. Nevertheless, ESPN undervalues them in a major way.

The Minnesota Timberwolves got much better but ESPN believes they're worse.

Part of ESPN's evaluation centers around swapping out Towns for Randall and them dropping from 1st to ninth on defense. According to Kevin Pelton's projections, that would drop them from 56 wins to 46 wins. Randall and Towns are both polarizing players but statistically, Randall is the more productive star. He averaged 24 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5 assists per game compared to Towns' 21.8 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Towns is a far more efficient player; however, his contract is far worse. It will pay him $224 million over the next 4 years, or $56 million annually. Compare that to Randles', which will pay him $28.2 million this season and it's a steal.

Minnesota trading Towns and receiving a player of similar value is great. Let alone, getting back another rotation player which should help them fill holes and build out a deeper roster around rising superstar Anthony Edwards. He may even sign an extension for far less than that amount.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are deeper than before.

While the draft pick probably won't end up mattering much, Randle allows them to continue to play big. Especially with Rudy Gobert and Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid, who looks ready for a bigger role.

Factor in rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrance Shannon Jr., both of whom may play regular minutes and the cash-strapped Wolves are suddenly deep. Dillingham has a chance to be a terrific offensive player off the bench in the mold of Jamal Crawford, Reid should be terrific as ever, and DiVincenzo will add more scoring punch.

As a result, ESPN predicting that the Wolves will win only 46 games after winning 52 games last season is baffling. The Wolves are clearly better than last season's team that went to the Western Conference Finals, and that makes them legit contenders.