Hi Lobo,
it's actually an ok looking team, and I think you can take some solace, in that doesn't appear you have done much wrong, you've just been caught up in the Smith/Simpson/Selwood disappointments, and that was largely unavoidable, unless you were lucky enough not to take them.
Just on trading Lumumba being considered a sideways step. I'm not too sure about that myself. We were hoping for a different Lumumba with the change of Clubs, perhaps somewhat foolishly. He's priced at 79-80, has a B/E of 101, and is currently averaging 77, a career 3rd best! Realistically, his price should drop a little bit further before flattening a bit. There are some Coaches considering trading Saad, who is averaging 8 more, but is priced $78k lower. Aside from it being Saad's first season, and him having just missed a week, I'd much rather trade Lumumba than Saad! I don't think cashing out or upgrading Lumumba is the worst possible move a Coach could make. It is of course, much more important to deal with Lonie and possibly Vdb, if they are picked, though some might argue, that Vdb might out score Lumumba this week, and therefore drop less than him!
Your Def line needs help, and the bottom line is, every single player you trade in to your Defs right now has a downside and risks attached. When there are no safe picks, and I really believe there aren't any right now, you may as well trade in a $400-$450k player with upside (Howe, Thurlow, Laird, Hurn, MJ, Yoe) as chasing points, and taking risks with the $500-$550k players (Houli, Hodge, McDonald, Picken, Shaw). It's hard to envisage that half or more of the current top 10 Def scorers will also be top 10 for the last 16 rounds. While it is hard to isolate which players will do that, you need to start somewhere. Howe is an interesting one. He missed a chunk of the pre-season with a hamstring injury, and he's under contract talks, but this season is looking very similar to last season. Last season he averaged 64.5 in the first 6 games, with a 100+ and a 90+ in there, and 93.2 in last 16 games. This season he has averaged 80.1 in the first 7 games, with 2 100+'s and a 90+ in there. His B/E is 137, so he will very likely be cheaper next week.
The other question you need to ask yourself is, how much do you want Mitchell? If you think you want him, you have to have him this week, or he's pretty much gone. I'm facing the same decision this week, and I'm still not sure if I get him or not. Yes, it will give you 14 Rnd 12 players, but half of them are Rookies, so that gets fixed before the byes. To my mind Rocky can wait a week. With the injury he's coming back from, it wouldn't surprise me if he is still a week or three away from full function. Yes, he's bottomed out in price, but I think we can risk a week's wait with him.
It comes down to selection this week, so we know if we have to prioritise a Rookie or two for trade outs, and how much you want Mitchell. One way or another, you probably want two Def upgrades in the next 4 weeks.
Good luck, if you find a Def gem, let me know!