Joakim Noah, the gregarious Florida power forward who was born in Manhattan, said he plans to steer clear of the Big Apple until the June 28 NBA draft at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Noah, who could be snatched at No. 9 by the Bulls with the pick they got from the Knicks in the Eddy Curry trade, has trained the last three weeks in Los Angeles.

"I have to stay away from New York," Noah said at yesterday's pre-draft camp. "I have too many temptations, too many friends. I felt I needed to go somewhere, far from everything. After the draft's over, yeah."

Noah admits he and his Gators teammates "partied like rock stars" in the two weeks after winning their second straight NCAA championship and even had ringside seats in Las Vegas for the Floyd Mayweather title fight.

Noah would have been the top pick last year but likely is a mid-to-late lottery pick now.

"If it was a business decision, I would've left last year," Noah said. "But the most important thing to me was to win another championship."