Well, there have been a lot of great comments to this thread so far and I can agree with points made in all of them.
I just wanted to point out that the criteria used in evaluating an official does not lean heavily towards the number of years of experience. An official is evaluated for many things in determining an assessment of their skills:
Knowledge of the rules
Proper mechanics
On court positioning and movement
Communication and game management skills
Professional disposition/attitude
Professional appearance
Willingness to take assignments at lower levels
Dependability - work the schedule given and be on time (no cancels or low turnbacks)
Developing these skills comes with experience which means games worked not necessarily the number of years worked. The more games you work, the more polished your skills will become. You need not wait 4-5 years to get that experience but you do have to seize the opportunities when they present themselves such as school seasons, AAU, summer leagues, rec leagues, camps etc. You can get alot of work in one calendar year other than the typical 20 game school schedule. If you approach each game with vim and vigor as if it were an evaluation, your skill set will improve dramatically, and quicker than you could imagine.
Also, don't be so quick to blow off going to camp even if it conflicts with your other money making schedule. Your assignors use the camps as a major tool in determining your skills, noting your personality and professionalism, and seeing how you operate. Granted, your loyalty may be tested but it seems a small price to pay if it results in a full schedule at the levels you desire.
Politics, schmolitics! Check your ego at the door. You may have had "perceived" success in your other sports when you were able to work playoffs and championship games after only 1-2 years. To me, that just means that you got lucky, they were short on experienced officials, or you knew somebody. No offense but you did not get those assignments because you were a great official. How could anyone know if you were so good after only 1 or 2 seasons. Well, maybe they could in those other sports but not in basketball, the bar is much higher.
Show patience, work your schedule, let your assignors know of your desire to move up, work hard at being a good official. If, after 80-100 games worked at your highest level you still get shut out of the NEXT level, then you may have to make a personal decision.