Knight vision: Rucker says Perth's hopes hinge on import

Former NBL MVP Derek Rucker believes Brandon Knight will be the difference between Perth being a legitimate title contender and falling short of the League's best.

The former NBA star is yet to arrive in Australia, and Rucker says the Wildcats need him to settle in quickly, with glaring holes in their current system.

Perth claimed its first win of the season on Thursday night, edging Adelaide 98-97 at RAC Arena thanks to an incredible Elijah Pepper buzzer-beater, but the experts aren't sold yet.

"I don't want to put undue pressure on Brandon Knight, but it 100 per cent depends on how he's able to perform, how he's able to defend, can he get used to the league," Rucker said on NBL Now.

"Can he make himself comfortable in this competition? If he can, then you see the other pieces are there."

Rucker said Perth's inability to stop players like Bryce Cotton left them fragile on the defensive end, underlining the importance of Knight's role.

"They still had major problems defending the basketball. They could not contain Bryce at all," he said. "And that's why I believe there will be a major burden on Brandon Knight to be able to defend perimeter players when he gets here."

Adelaide did it without Flynn Cameron and Isaac Humphries, recovering from 15 points down to lead by 13 in the third quarter.

Still, Rucker was impressed with Perth's resilience to get the job done in front of 10,145 of the Red Army faithful.

"That victory last night is a case of not worrying about how we got it, just the fact that we got one in the win column and everybody can kind of relax," he said.

The Wildcats led by five inside the final two minutes before an 8-0 Sixers run, including threes from Cotton and John Jenkins III, put Adelaide back in front.

Rucker was full of praise for Pepper, who was fouled by Cotton as he banked in the game-winning three with 1.9 seconds left, capping a 25-point night on 10/17 shooting.

"Pepper has such a high level of belief in himself. He wasn't looking around," Rucker said.

"And remember, this is a team last season that really struggled in those types of situations. They couldn't close out."

Rucker was also pleased to see Dylan Windler bounce back with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, after managing just two points in the season-opening loss to South East Melbourne.

"Windler's one of those guys who I think most people around the league really want to see excel and he has so much talent. So, it was nice to see him find some level of comfort within that game."

He said coach John Rillie treated it as a must-win, playing all his starters 30 minutes or more and trimming his rotation to eight.

"He treated that like a post-season game and he let those guys run. So just on that conduct from John Rillie alone, it tells you how important that game was last night," he added.

Whether Pepper's shot proves a turning point remains to be seen.

"Is this the spark that maybe gets them going as a unit? We'll see," Rucker said.

The Wildcats back up at home against the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night, live on ESPN, 9 and 9Now from 9:30pm AEST.