Bobby Portis worked out for the Boston Celtics this week and revealed a dark motivation for pregame fuel.

“I always envision someone hitting my mom,” Portis said. “That’s something I do for myself because I want to make myself mad when I get on the court. It’s all business when I step on the hardwood.”

Portis once stepped in between his mother, Tina Edwards, and an angry boyfriend as a young teen in Little Rock, Ark., and grabbed the man’s fist.

“That’s something I had to go through as a kid, my mom and domestic violence,” Portis said flatly. “I didn’t want that to happen anymore, so that’s something I’ve always envisioned.”

Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics will seek the help of Isaiah Thomas in identifying free agent targets this offseason.

“Danny said if there’s any free agent out there I’m interested in, to let him know,” Thomas said by telephone. “That has me excited. For him to ask for my input means a lot, because it means I’m definitely, right now, a part of the future, and they also value your word and what you think about the game of basketball. It means a lot, and it’s a mutual respect we have. Now, hopefully, we can get a few guys.”

Thomas did not name specific players on his wish list during an interview with the Globe, but he said a rim-protecting big man would be at the top of it.

“A defensive-minded player,” he said. “It’d be nice to get one of those in the draft. A lot of the big men out there could definitely help us out. But I know Danny is always up to something.”

Thomas also volunteered to help recruit free agents. Thomas said that when he played for the University of Washington, he helped persuade several high school prospects to join the Huskies.

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly had a handshake agreement with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2007 on a trade of Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom for Kevin Garnett.

"Dr. [Jerry] Buss came to me and said, 'I have a handshake agreement with Taylor, that he's going to come to L.A. But (Kevin) McHale hasn't concurred yet.' So I said, 'Well that's a good excuse.' You always, as an owner, say, 'I'll do this, but …' So I kept that hope out there, that he was gonna be a part of the Laker organization," said Phil Jackson.

Taylor believed Bynum was going to become a star.

Garnett was eventually traded to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes and a first round pick.

McHale's relationship with Ainge was believed to have helped facilitate the trade.

"I've always kind of hinted that, in fun. … Of course, it's easier to make a deal with someone you know," said Jackson.

The Phoenix Suns were offering Amar'e Stoudemire for Garnett.

The Lakers eventually acquired Pau Gasol without trading away Bynum or Odom, which led them to three Finals appearances and two titles.

The Boston Celtics rejected a trade offer at the deadline of a first round pick for Avery Bradley.

Bradley was on the first season of a four-year, $32 million deal with the Celtics.

Bradley is a well-known favorite of Danny Ainge with his versatility on defense.

The Boston Celtics are "very open" to trading up in the NBA Draft, according to two sources.

The Celtics could reportedly target Willie Cauley-Stein, but they would have to move up several spots in order to select the seven-footer.

The Celtics currently have the No. 16 pick.

Cauley-Stein was one of the first players the Celtics interviewed at the draft combine.

The Boston Celtics were stuck between the playoffs and the lottery for most of the 14-15 season and became a better team after trading away Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green.

"When we made the trades, we felt like we needed to move a different direction," said Danny Ainge. "We did anticipate we'd take a little bit of a step backwards. We got better as the season went on."

The Celtics will enter the 2015 offseason still wanting to make substantial changes to the roster.

"What we've tried to do is put ourselves in the game to have those options, have some opportunities to make big moves. So I guess if there's big moves we like, we do them," said Ainge. "If there are big moves we're not in love with, we hold out and wait."

Ainge also talked about how the Celtics had the assets to make trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007, but were unable to do so in 2012 when James Harden became available.

"We want to stay in the game until we can do something significant," said Ainge.

During a Philadelphia radio interview with 97.5 The Fanatic on Wednesday, Larry Brown remembered that the Philadelphia 76ers actually ranked Paul Pierce the No. 2 prospect in 1998.

But the 76ers passed on Pierce and instead selected Larry Hughes.

Pierce and Allen Iverson could have formed a remarkable scoring tandem.

"We took Larry Hughes because (with the eighth pick) because we thought we had a need," he said. "But the reason we took Larry is I promised him when we interviewed him -- we knew we were getting the eighth pick -- I promised him if he was there at (No.) 8 we would take him."

The ill-advised promise changed Brown's draft strategy.

"I always think you should take the very best player," he said. "Whatever we wrote on the board, we used to write by position during the draft the best players, then we would write needs, and then we would write the best players period. And I always used to tell our staff, we've gotta go for the best player period and not even think about our needs, unless they were very, very close."