The problem has to do with the existing law that had a very specific criteria for who gets the waiver visa system, and that criteria was based on the rejectionrate of visas.
That's well above the 6.3%, or about one of 16, average for the league, according to NBA.com's statistical website, and it threatened Danny Fortson's 16.7% rejectionrate in 1997-98, which is the highest for anyone who has attempted at least 500 field goals in a season since 1997, the earliest for which NBA.com has data.