In a world of spin, lies and videotape, Trent Johnson is brutally honest. Ask the Stanford men’s basketball coach about the upcoming season and he’ll answer with frank, unhesitating candor.

“We don’t have all our pieces in place,” Johnson said of the realities faced by his young team, which kicks off the regular season tomorrow against Siena. “We can be getting pieces in place here week to week. We do have some deficiencies on this basketball team.”

With five freshmen, a transfer and a walk-on, Johnson will be doing his fair share of mixing and matching. Combined with injuries to key players, it may be a while before fans see how the final puzzle comes together.

“The positive of all the injuries that we have had is that we have been able to juggle guys and play people out of position and have a competitive practice,” Johnson said. “I really do like our group; we have decent talent. Our freshmen take things in like sponges. They are all looking forward to the challenge of the season, and I truly expect this team to get better and stay together as a team.”

Stanford will not return an all-league player for the first time since 1995. Gone are Cardinal mainstays Chris Hernandez, Dan Grunfeld, Matt Haryasz and Jason Haas. And while the freshman class, especially All-American 7-foot twins Brook and Robin Lopez, shows promise, Johnson said comparisons with former Stanford standout twins Jason and Jarron Collins were premature.

“Mark Madson and Tim Young, two first-round picks, were here [during the Collins’ freshman year],” Johnson said. “They’re walking into a different situation.”

But what the Card may lack in experience and depth, they more than compensate for in energy, effort and enthusiasm.

“Our strength will be to play hard and hopefully take on the personality of our coaching staff — defensive-minded, confident and have a killer instinct,” said sophomore point guard Mitch Johnson, recently named team captain. “If we do those things, we’ll be all right.”

The defensive focus was on display Tuesday night, when the Cardinal held British Columbia to 39 percent shooting en route to a 79-59 exhibition victory.

“If we’re going to go anywhere this year, it’s going to be on the defensive end,” said senior forward Fred Washington, who is also expected to take on a leadership role after missing significant time last year due to a knee injury. “If we keep that defensive intensity up all year, there is no limit to what we can do.”

Getting the major pieces healthy may help, too. Brook Lopez, recovering from offseason back surgery, has no official timetable for his return but is expected back in December. Junior center Peter Prowitt, sidelined with an injured knee, is still at least two weeks away.

“If we keep Robin in the game, get his brother back and get Peter back, we’re a pretty solid defensive team,” Washington said. “If we keep that up, we can surprise some people. Not ourselves, but other people.”

Picked to finish seventh in a preseason Pac-10 coaches’ poll, Stanford has the potential to play the spoiler role this year. The conference won’t be easy, with UCLA and Washington reloaded after losing key starters to the NBA. Arizona, picked for the first time since 2001 to finish runner up, will be its usual competitive self as well.

The prospect of playing perennial powerhouse Duke in the College Basketball Experience Classic later this month, is also particularly tantalizing and will prove an early test for the young Cardinal. But Brook Lopez said he and his fellow freshmen relish the opportunity to learn on the fly.

“Everyone’s in a position to step up and make contributions,” he said. “They’ve made the adjustment already.”

As for the sophomore captain, Johnson said he was taking things one day at a time.

“Our chemistry is as good as it can be,” he said with a mature, tempered optimism. “But it’s going to definitely take us a while.”

Indeed, a sense of patience will serve the Cardinal well, unusually befitting for a team that seeks to play with a charged energy and competitive intensity on the court. It starts with the coach, unflappable even after his squad hung with a top-25 ranked Nevada team in a closed scrimmage last Friday.

“I learned we’re going to need all our players,” Johnson said. “We need all our players.”