It's been a while since David Shields followed the NBA. The UW English professor and bestselling author took a sabbatical to cover the Seattle SuperSonics for a season in 1994. The result was Black Planet, a book that probes into race relations and professional sports. Seattle has since lost its team, and Shields his interest in the game. But he can't resist tuning in for this year's NBA Finals, as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers spar with Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. "Thrilling theater," Shields calls it.