Chris Bosh plans to become a free agent next summer, but doesn't think it will hang over Toronto's efforts during the 2009-10 season.

"It's all about the feeling and being happy," said Bosh.

"I want to see what happens at the end of 82 games and (if we) put ourselves in a position to make some noise.

"You take a team like Orlando last year. No one expected them...to make the run that they did but they were playing for a championship when it was all said and done."

"I don't think it's a distraction, it's something that can be looked at maybe as a positive," said president and general manager Bryan Colangelo. "He's coming into a situation where he's got to perform and if he performs, this team's probably going to perform and that means we're going to have a helluva year and a number of things are going to go right and he's probably going to look at this as a good situation to be in.

"If all the things that we've done addressing the areas of concern work out, then obviously it's going to play a factor. If we get off to slow start or there's a period of time in the year where we're struggling, that's going to be the first question that everybody asks and I can understand that."