Mike James already has scored two points on the savvy scale.

Not long after signing a one-year contract worth $638,679 with the Celtics yesterday, the guard went out apartment hunting with his wife.

No sense in waiting until an army of college students swoop in to clog the real estate market next month, right?

``I'm happy to get everything done quickly,'' said the 28-year-old veteran of professional basketball's less-traveled roads.

UMass fans will remember James as the gritty scorer who, in his senior year at Duquesne, made the Atlantic 10 all-conference first team with some far flashier names, including Rhode Island's Cuttino Mobley. Xavier's James Posey made the second team and Temple's Pepe Sanchez the third.

All made the NBA within their first year out of college.