Jayson Tatum's New Focus: Rim Finishing and Mid-Range Scoring After Jaylen Brown Trade

What Jayson Tatum's New Workout Video Actually Shows

New footage of Jayson Tatum putting in work has surfaced, and the emphasis is unmistakable: this isn't a highlight reel of catch-and-shoot threes. The session opens with close and deeper mid-range set shots before moving into dribbling, running, and finishing work the kind of drills built to sharpen touch inside the arc rather than volume from beyond it.

A separate clip from the same stretch shows Tatum dunking with ease, looking noticeably more mobile as he continues working back from the Achilles injury that wiped out most of his 2025-26 season. Taken together, the footage points to a player deliberately rebuilding the parts of his game burst, footwork, finishing strength that let him score without needing a live dribble into open space or a set three-point look.

Why Tatum Needs More Than a Jump Shot

The numbers explain why this offseason emphasis matters. In his limited 2025-26 sample of 16 games, Tatum's shot profile skewed heavily toward the perimeter: 131 above-the-break three-point attempts compared to just 62 restricted-area shots and 45 mid-range attempts. His restricted-area frequency sat at 21.6%  a career-low rate of getting to the rim while his reliance on threes climbed to a career-high share of his overall shot diet.

Efficiency told a similarly lopsided story. He shot 61.3% at the rim and 35.1% from mid-range, both respectable marks when he actually got there, but his overall three-point percentage dipped to 32.9% — well below his 38.1% career mark. A player generating fewer easy looks near the basket while shooting a career-low clip from deep is a red flag, not a rebuilding blueprint, which is likely why the new training footage leans so heavily into rim touch and mid-range footwork instead of jump-shooting reps.

The Jaylen Brown Void Tatum Must Fill

Context makes the timing of this shift obvious. With Jaylen Brown no longer on the roster, Tatum enters 2026-27 as Boston's unquestioned No. 1 scoring option, and multiple roster previews expect him to shoulder the bulk of the offensive burden that Brown used to absorb. One projection went as far as saying the Celtics will need Tatum to essentially replicate a large chunk of Brown's 2025-26 scoring output just to stay competitive in the East.

The pieces around him have changed accordingly. Paul George arrives as a secondary wing scorer, while Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are expected to pick up more shot creation and ball-handling responsibility. But none of that changes the core math: Boston's half-court offense is going to run through Tatum far more often, and in a league where defenses can key on a single primary scorer, having only a jump shot to fall back on becomes a liability in tight playoff possessions.

What to Watch When the Season Tips Off

The workout footage is a promising signal, but preseason and early regular-season games will show whether the adjustment actually sticks. Watch three things: how often Tatum attacks the paint compared to his career-low 21.6% rim frequency from last season, whether his mid-range efficiency holds up once real defenders — not empty-gym reps — are contesting those shots, and how Boston distributes scoring load among George, White, and Pritchard once games count.

If Tatum can push his rim frequency back toward his career norms while keeping his three-point volume from ballooning further, it would suggest Boston has found a sustainable answer to the Brown-sized hole in its offense. If the three-point-heavy pattern from 2025-26 repeats itself, expect the same questions about shot diversity to resurface the moment Boston hits a playoff-caliber defense.

• Rim attack frequency compared to his 21.6% career-low mark
• Mid-range efficiency against live defenses, not empty-gym reps
• How much scoring load shifts to George, White, and Pritchard