Chris Bosh: No disrespect in bypassing Noah, Bulls

Amid these Eastern Conference finals, Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh wants to make one thing clear: He did not blow off Joakim Noah or the Chicago Bulls during last summer's free-agency period.

On the eve of this best-of-seven series, which now stands tied 1-1 heading into Sunday night's Game 3 at AmericanAirlines Arena, Noah, the Bulls' feisty center, told the Chicago Tribune he sensed indifference from Bosh regarding the Bulls' recruitment.

"He was a nice guy and all,'' Noah said of their encounter in the early hours of free agency, "but Bosh was more into, 'Well it depends on what this guy does, what that guy does.' "

Bosh said he never meant to put off the Bulls or Noah, but that he simply did not want to take an aggressive stance so early in the process, even as the Bulls moved on to instead sign Carlos Boozer.

I don't put my heart into the business too much," Bosh said. "This is business. I like to distinguish the two. The way I handle things, you never want to put too much just into one thing, especially when you have options."

Bosh said he felt it would have been disingenuous to come off overenthusiastic as he dined with Noah, knowing there still was an opportunity for his eventual collaboration with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James with the Heat.

"At no time," he said, "did I want to give anybody or a team, at that minute, a feeling that they're ahead or something like that. I just wanted to keep everything neutral and just go through my meetings."