Reddit reviews Crunching Numbers: An Inside Look At The Salary Cap And Negotiating Player Contracts

Your best bet would be to read Crunching Numbers by Jason Fitzgerald. It's a little dense but very informative.

Front/backloading always refers to guarantees. P5 salaries mean jack shit if they aren't guaranteed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0692742239?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=0692742239&linkCode=shr&tag=ovethecap-20&linkId=CIK2DVPBPAU55AAP&qid=1474372811&sr=8-4&keywords=%22crunching+numbers%22

Highly recommend this book

1. You can't go over
   
2. I'm not sure I'm answering your question because I was a little confused as to what you were asking but regardless of whether or not we sign anyone, if a a player was cut in 2017 you have that dead money hit on your books and it comes off in 2018
   
3. Draft signings and any other signing that would account for the top 51 salaries on a team are counted against the salary cap for the given year.
   
4. As far as a resource this is your best bet, I haven't bought it yet myself but I am an avid listener to his podcast and a constant viewer of his website.
   
   Crunching Numbers: An Inside Look At The Salary Cap And Negotiating Player Contracts https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692742239/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9xd5yb7NE1HP8
   
   Hope this all helps!