29. Can a team sign all the free agents it wants (up to the cap limit) and THEN re-sign its own free agents using the Bird exception?
Yes, but there's a restriction. A team's free agents continue to count as team salary (against the salary cap). This charge is called the "free agent amount." So there may not be enough money under the cap to sign another team's free agent, because the team's own free agents are taking up all their cap room.
As a Toronto fan, I'm curious as to how this affects our 2010 off season possibilities with Bosh becoming a free agent. Would Bosh's "free agent amount" be his maximum salary?