re: Could someone explain the Cavs cap situation

If I understand it right there's a soft cap and a hard cap. Of course my knowledge on the subject comes from the 2k video games so TIFWIW.

You can only go over the soft cap if certain things apply. This is where things like bird rights, trade exceptions and mid level exceptions come into play. Bird rights are basically if a player has played for your team for a certain amount of years you can sign him even if it puts you over the soft cap. If you trade with another team, it can put you over the soft cap but not the hard cap.

If you're over the soft cap, you have to pay the luxury tax that was mentioned earlier in this thread