CHICAGO – From the moment Bobby Portis steps on the court, the first thing you notice is the eyes bulging out.

As you watch him play more, the eyes remain fixated on his opponents like a heat-seeking missile locked on its target.

“I’m very crazy. I play angry, I play mad,” Portis said. “I play very angry. Every game, I sit in the locker room and I have visions of the players on the other team slapped my mom. So that’s why I get mad and now I get you because you slapped my mom.”

While it may seem a bit extreme in terms of psychological games that players play on their own minds, Portis’ approach stems from a dark, painful past that was riddled with domestic abuse.

“That (domestic violence) propelled me,” Portis told ESPN.com in 2014. “To want to do something with this basketball stuff to get my mom out of that situation.”

There is no mistaking the influence and power that period in his life has had on how he approaches the game of basketball.

“I bring something different to the basketball court that I think most 20-year-olds don’t bring,” Portis said. “I bring a sense of urgency. I play with a log on my shoulder; not a chip. I play with a log on my shoulder simply because I feel I’m one of the best kept secrets in this draft.”

Well the secret is out.

Portis, the reigning SEC player of the Year, is known throughout NBA circles.

Several teams, including the Celtics, will think long and hard about draft him. He has six workouts currently scheduled, one of which will be with Boston.

He plays with an uncanny fire and emotion that, in terms of college players, is about as close as you’ll find to former Celtic Kevin Garnett.

So it should come as no surprise that Garnett is a player that Portis compares himself to in terms of energy and intensity.

“I feel I bring that same physicality, that same passion, and that same log on my shoulder that he plays with,” Portis said.

Don’t get it twisted, energy and effort and intensity are all good.

But Portis is on the radar of NBA teams leading up to the draft because he can play.

At 6-foot-10, Portis has shown the ability to score in a number of ways. Because he plays with such great effort, he has a chance to be a high-energy player who can defend multiple positions.

"Once I step on the court, I’m not just consumed by posting up,” Portis said. “I’m not just consumed just shooting jumpers. I like to do a lot of things on the basketball court. I believe I can play with anyone.”

And he’ll do it with a scowl, a wide-eyed demeanor and intensity that could be in a Celtics uniform next season.

And yes, the same mindset he brought to the floor at Arkansas will be coming to an NBA arena soon,

“Just some of the things I went through in the past, some of the things I had to go through in my household and some of things I had to go through in school,” Portis said. “So I created this thing I do now on me getting mad so when I go on the court I can have a productive night.”

Portis’ goal once he gets to the NBA can be summed up in two words – keep working.

“They’ll realize Bobby Portis is one of the hardest working players in the whole NBA,”said Portis, speaking in the third person briefly. “Simply because once I get there I won’t stop working. I’m going to keep doing the things that got me there. I was once a kid no one knew, and now people know me. So I got to this position to talk to you guys because I worked hard. Once I get there, I’ll keep working hard. Once I get there, I want to have a career in the NBA.”