One other thing to keep in mind: the cap went up in a big way last year due to the new CBA. However, there were still (statistically speaking) the same number of free agents available. In other words, the demand was significantly less than the supply, so not all teams spent to the cap -- nor could they. Well, they could have signed me for $80 million, but that wasn't going to happen. But you get my point.
Anyway, going forward, I suspect you will see teams not spending to the cap because of the local revenue problem.