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Mikhail Prokhorov and the New Jersey Nets decided to remove themselves from the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes on Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean the team will stand pat before February’s trade deadline. Once the team realized that obtaining Anthony’s services was out of the question, they immediately started working the phones and letting their interest in other players be known.

In the twenty-four hours leading up to Prokhorov’s announcement, rival executives fielded calls from the Nets and realized that the team was moving on from their pursuit of Anthony. With the trade deadline thirty-five days away, the Nets are now focusing on more realistic options but remain committed to making changes that will improve the team.

After gauging interest in their roster and seeing what players were available around the league, the Nets began planning their next move early Wednesday morning. Troy Murphy was excused from the team after requesting a trade, news of Prokhorov’s announcement began leaking out, and the Nets zeroed in on the players they were going to pursue.

League sources say that while the Nets have done their due diligence and spoke with plenty of teams, New Jersey has expressed the most interest in dealing with the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies.

Prokhorov would love to acquire Andrei Kirilenko and would much rather have his fellow Russian for the second half of the season as opposed to Troy Murphy, whose contract is also expiring. Murphy has butted heads with head coach Avery Johnson throughout the course of the season and Prokhorov considers Kirilenko a good friend.

The Nets have expressed interest in several of the Grizzlies’ pieces, with one source believing that the team will target Zach Randolph and O.J. Mayo. New Jersey wants to make a trade, especially involving Murphy, but they’re not going to take on long, bad contracts that limit their options in the future. The team is interested in young talent and expiring contracts that would help the team improve in the short-term and make sense financially in the long-term.

The Nets have also expressed interest in Kevin Martin, but the Houston Rockets aren’t interested in moving their shooting guard. Like the Nets, the Rockets are searching for a star addition and are holding onto their assets, including Martin, until one becomes available. Other teams, including the Orlando Magic, have tried and failed to pry Martin from the Rockets this season. Houston isn’t looking for youth and picks so it’s unlikely they’ll be interested in completing a deal with the Nets.

Nearly all of New Jersey’s time and energy in the past month has been spent trying to orchestrate a deal for Carmelo Anthony. Few alternatives were discussed because nobody in the organization believed they would strikeout after acquiring first round picks to strengthen their offer and hearing Anthony’s representation push for a deal to be completed. But at the end of the day, the Nets didn’t have the pieces to both make a deal with the Nuggets and sell Anthony on the future of the team.

Now, the Nets are trying to move on and are weighing their options with the deadline approaching. While they won’t be able to acquire a player of Anthony’s caliber, they have the young players and first round picks to upgrade their roster. Even though their potential blockbuster fell through, changes are likely still coming for New Jersey and the team won’t be out of the headlines for long.

Anthony Won’t Discuss Future: Last November, LeBron James was in the Orlando Magic’s visiting locker room when a horde of media members surrounded him. As was the case in every season, reporters in Orlando wanted to know where James would be playing after the season. Did he want to stay in Cleveland? Would he like to play with Dwight Howard? How has the situation affected him?

{AUTHOR_BOX}After dealing with the media all season long, James was finally done. Every single question during his pregame availability had to do with his future and more and more media members were showing up every night. Tired of discussing his uncertain future and watching large groups of reporters take over the locker room each night, James decided he was no longer going to answer questions pertaining to his free agency because it was becoming a distraction for him and his teammates.

"The free agency questions are getting old," said a frustrated James. "This is the last night I’ll be answering questions about my free agency until the offseason. I owe it to my teammates."

It seems that Carmelo Anthony has now reached that point.

Throughout this entire process, Anthony has answered every question thrown at him and done his best to accommodate the media. He has been available to reporters and answered questions honestly. But after facing the horde every single day and night for the past few months, Anthony has decided it’s time for him to keep quiet.

"I’m not answering any more questions about an extension, about being traded," he said. "I’m focused on being here right now. Until anything happens, you guys will see me upstairs in practice, playing hard, doing what I got to do, and focusing."

"Then, when anything happens, all you guys will have a big story to write about."

With plenty of fans growing tired of this soap opera, remaining silent is a wise decision for Anthony.

Noah’s Early Return: After Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah underwent surgery to repair a torn ulna collateral ligament in his right thumb, sources close to the forward were optimistic that he would return to action earlier than expected.

While most reports had Noah shelved for ten weeks, his camp hoped that he would be playing after eight if all went as planned. Now, with Noah’s rehab progressing well, it appears he’ll be ready to return right after the All-Star break.

The Bulls don’t want their big man to rush back from injury, but they’re also optimistic that Noah’s progress will have him playing sooner than expected. Noah is targeting Chicago’s matchup with the Miami Heat on February 24 as a possible return date.

Chicago has been surprisingly good without Noah. The team hasn’t slipped in the standings and are currently the third seed in the Eastern Conference behind only the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

The Bulls are looking forward to seeing their team at full strength and feel that they have an excellent chance of contending once their team gets on the same page. Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, and Noah haven’t played in many games together so the Bulls feel that their best play is still around the corner.