Boozer won over new teammates before he signed

Joakim Noah didn't sense the commitment.

The Bulls center huddled with Chris Bosh inside Chicago's Trump International Hotel and Tower over the summer without any preconceived notions. He simply wanted the guy sitting across from him at Sixteen restaurant to show a fire and passion about joining the Bulls.

Bosh didn't.

"He was a nice guy and all,'' Noah said of his recruitment of Bosh during the free-agent frenzy. "But Bosh was more into, 'Well it depends on what this guy does, what that guy does.'''

The next day, Noah met with Carlos Boozer at the Trump and came away with a totally different vibe.

"Booz knew this was where he wanted to be,'' Noah said. "I liked that.''

As the Bulls and Heat begin the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night at the United Center, there will be plenty of talk of how this all could have panned out differently if the Bulls had been able to snare some free agent grouping of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh.

Maybe Boozer wasn't Plan A for Chicago, but their plan has worked.

"Both of them have the same role,'' Derrick Rose said of Boozer and Bosh, "but with Booz, just seeing him and being around him — I don't know how Chris is as a person, but Booz is exactly what we needed.''

Rose recalled how a month before last season ended, Boozer told him to make sure to contact him about joining forces. There was talk Boozer's No. 1 choice was to sign with the Heat because his three boys live in Miami and he still owns a house in the area.

That was far from the message Boozer relayed to Noah.

"I just told Jo that if I leave Utah, this is where I want to come,'' Boozer said. "I was like, 'You and I could lock down the middle. D-Rose's potential is through the roof. And Luol (Deng) is a versatile as anybody.' … We can ride out and do some good things.''