"I was a free agent," he said, "and I had to make a decision I definitely thought was best for me to move forward. I'm excited about where I'm going. ... I don't know what to expect, but I know what I expect from myself."

Allen said his ankle is now about 75 to 80 percent healthy, and he expects to be 100 percent when training camp starts next month. The Heat will open the season against the Celtics.

"I look at the guys I played with five years," he said. "I played seven years with the Bucks and four with Seattle, so at some point you're always going to have ex-teammates. But winning [a championship] with the guys in Boston, I have a bond with them. It's going to be a special game, though I am not an emotional person."

The big news in the NBA this week was the trade of Dwight Howard to the Lakers, who figure to go into the season as the biggest threat to unseat the Heat.

"They definitely bolstered their lineup," Allen said. "But [departed] Andrew Bynum helped them win championships. They've been very tough the last five or six years, and they will continue to be tough, another formidable opponent we're going to have to deal with."