There's a few that come to mind for me.  I haven't paid much attention to basketball in a long time.  But back in high school I was always a Barkley fan.

There was a hockey player I really liked, Pascal Dupuis.  I liked him because he played really well on the line with Sidney Crosby.  They were a great duo for a stretch.  He also like to troll certain reporters when interviewed during the intermission of games.  And another reason I liked him is that my brother hated the guy's name (Dupuis pronounced doo-pwee in case anyone is interested and unaware).  Hearing that name used to drive him nuts, and it was hilarious.

Another player I was drawn to was a second baseman for the Pirates back in the late 80s and very early 90s.  José "Chico" Lind.  Not a spectacular player by any means.  He couldn't hit for much at all, but was really good on defense.  He was doing the Jeter jump throw before Derek Jeter was ever in the league.  He pulled off diving stops of the ball all the time too.  Those were younger days for me.  My dad like Chico's defense, so I liked him too.